The Ties that Bind

by Birdco

Rating: teen
Tags: Spike, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 29629

An airship voyage beyond Equestria forces ponies to address their problems

After Spike's destructive rampage in Ponyville, Rhumbline, Airship captain formally in the employ of the royal household has been recalled to service. His task, to voyage far beyond the borders of Equestria to the place of Spike's origin, to help the dragon find a way to control his hoarding instincts.

Meanwhile, the voyage forces the crew and passengers to reflect on their lives and their pasts, and come to terms with the ties that bind them together.

Cover art by Dembai/Sliverlynx http://sliverlynx.deviantart.com/

Published 2012-02-15 10:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-24 22:02:58 UTC

Chapter 2: Rhumbline

The Ties That Bind

By Birdco
Pre-read by: Fyre~medi, Rokas, Inko21, Yoshimon1

“Never mind your happiness; do your duty.”
- Pacer Dressage

Chapter 2: Rhumbline

Rhumbline grabbed the cargo boom’s vang line firmly in his teeth, and he pulled hard. The familiar taste of hemp mixed with sweat greeted his tongue as he hauled the boom into its new position. The makeshift sail snapped as it caught the wind fully, and Rhumbline felt his airship surge under his hooves.

“Is that better Joe?” Rhumbline called back to the pilothouse after securing the line to the cleat. The blue stallion tested the tension of the line with his hoof, and was rewarded with a clear tone in the line.

“She’s handlin’ alot better on the helm, Cap’n” Joe called back through an open porthole. The white and brown stallion was a capable deckhoof, and a decent helmspony he had found running a scow out of Trottingham. Rhumbline had gone to the docks looking to hire somepony to help run his newly purchased airship who would work for less than the unicorns out of Canterlot charged. Joe had been looking to change his scenery, and relocated with his family to Ponyville on the promise of work on the Dodo. Joe had made the transition from boats to airships well, and Rhumbline had come to trust Joe at the helm in all but the most difficult situations.

Now if I can only convince him to sign a contract, instead of signing on voyage to voyage Rhumbline thought. Joe’s lack of commitment was a constant concern, because at anytime Rhumbline might be left short for a voyage, and be forced to hire expensive, short term help. Rhumbline knew Joe’s reasons for not committing, but the Dodo’s Captain held out hope that his deckhoof would come around.

Rhumbline looked again towards the Ponyville pass at the two specks in the air over the forest. He had seen them a few minutes earlier, when he first went forward to set the sail, but hadn’t taken much notice at the time. Ponyville was a very diverse town, and there were almost always pegasi flying above it. But now he took notice, since the pair was clearly flying over the forest, apparently towards his airship. Pegasi did not venture far over the Everfree forest lightly, since the forest was vast and the skies above dangerous, especially at night.

Rhumbline glanced at the lazy motion of the forest canopy below, and at the rapidly descending sun in the west, and was reminded of the seriousness of the situation. He trotted over to the engine-room's vent, and yelled below. “Kayleigh, we need to get out of the forest before dark, and I can’t do that without my engines.”

“Captain, a pin sheared on the main drive, and now the whole main actuator is out of alignment” A feminine voice replied faintly from the vent. “I got the parts, but it’s gonna take me awhile to get everything lined back up again.”

Rhumbline sighed. Though the Dodo was a well built airship, its engines had been nothing but problems as of late. It didn’t help he couldn’t afford an experienced engineer. Kayleigh had a real talent with machines, but she was young, and had no education in airship engineering. But she was family, and she worked for cheap.

Rhumbline glanced back at the pair of flying creatures. They were clearly coming towards the Dodo. Since the pair seemed to come from Ponyville they probably weren’t dangerous, but a pony could never be sure over the Everfree Forest.

“Do what you can, Kayleigh,” Rhumbline yelled into the vent. “I’ll be down to help out after I deal with our guests.”

“Guests?” The voice called back. “Are these good guests, or bad guests?”

“Don’t worry about it Kayleigh, just fix the engine.” Rhumbline replied. His reply was greeted by the sharp metallic sound of hammer hitting engine. Rhumbline took a deep breath to rebuke his engineer through the vent, then he stopped and let the breath out.

‘This is probably one of the few situations that buckin’ hammer is the right tool,’ Rhumbline thought. Kayleigh was the type to resort to brute force in repairs when she got frustrated, which occurred with unsettling frequency.

“Cap’n, did ya say somethin’ about guests?” Joe called nervously from the pilothouse. Joe was always nervous over the forest, ever since a manticore decided to check them out a few voyages ago. Rhumbline pointed his hoof towards the pair flying towards the Airship. They were close enough that Rhumbline’s trained eyes could pick out details. Both were pegasi, the larger one, white with a gray mane was probably an older stallion, the smaller one, gray with a white mane, was definitely a mare.

“I see em’ Cap’n” Joe said, after looking hard where Rhumbline had indicated for a few moments. “What do you think they are coming here for?”

“I don’t know,” Rhumbline said absentmindedly, but he was beginning to have suspicions. He was pretty sure who the white stallion was. After a dragon rampaged through Ponyville last week, and Spike admitted to the community that it had been him, he had been suspecting he might be getting a visit.

“It’s not that I didn’t know my release from Celestia’s service had conditions,” Rhumbline muttered to himself, walking forward towards the cargo boom. The sail didn’t need to be checked, but Rhumbline wanted to think without Joe interrupting with more questions.

Rhumbline looked over his ship noting the patched balloon, the stay lines that were starting to show wear, and the deck planking that he should have replaced long ago. The Dodo was a good ship, but she was old, and Rhumbline wasn’t bringing in enough money to adequately maintain her.

Normally a cargo airship this size would be operating as a liner, working fixed routes between locations that were not connected by rail or ship. To operate as a tramp merchant, a captain needed good business sense, connections, and the ability to find out profitable markets that were underserved by cheaper means of transport.

Rhumbline wasn’t a merchant, and he hadn’t been in the business long enough to build many connections. These two handicaps alone should have bankrupted him long ago. The only thing he had going for him is that his mother, Starline, had taken him all over the world in her journeys, and made sure Rhumbline learned everything he could about the places and creatures they met. The only reason he was still in business was his ability to match up underserved communities with goods that they needed or wanted. In his holds were Elderberry wine and fine wool cloth from the Sheepland islands, which he got in return for simple household appliances and tools he picked up relatively cheaply from Stalliongrad. This should make him a decent profit in Canterlot on the goods but, with the cost of fuel, his loan payments, and the salaries for his crew, there was little left over for himself, or for maintenance.

Rhumbline operated the Dodo with a skeleton crew to keep his costs down. Normally a liner this size would be crewed by seven, two unicorn engineers, three helmsponies, a pegasus weather scout, and the Captain. The Dodo operated with three, Kayleigh, Joe and Rhumbline. All three took turns at the helm, and Rhumbline helped Kayleigh with the engineering work that didn’t involve the magic of the ships main drive.

“Not enough” Rhumbline muttered to himself, fiddling absentmindedly with the lines to the makeshift sail. Not enough for what he was certain the two pegasai were coming to tell him. They were close enough that he knew who they were; Guard Captain Perseus and his sister-in-law Winter Gale. Both were maneuvering to land on the deck of the Dodo.

Rhumbline walked back to the open deck between the cargo hatch and the pilothouse as the two Pegasi came in for a landing. Rhumbline steeled himself for his first glimpse of his old comrade. It wouldn’t do for Perseus to see him wince when Rhumbline looked at his face.

It wasn’t that Perseus scarred face bothered him. Rhumbline actually thought it complemented the old warhorse. It was the memory of what Perseus looked like before his wounds had been magically healed that bothered Rhumbline. He was a young colt at the time but that memory was one he could not forget.

“Welcome aboard the Dodo, Guard Captain” Rhumbline said warmly to the old white pegasus and gave a curt nod to the grey mare, who returned a piercing glare. He didn’t dislike his sister-in-law on principle, but he wasn’t in the mood for her loathing right now.

“Rhumbline. Friend. Thanks for having me on-board your fine ship. How have things been?” Perseus asked congenially, having always been one to indulge in small talk before getting around a difficult business.

“Perseus, I have a good idea why you are here.” Rhumbline replied in a more serious tone, “I don’t want to be rude, but I really need to help my engineer fix the main drive. So please, just give me the letter.”

The white stallions blue eyes widened slightly at the response, but he smiled. “I guess you have been expecting this”. Perseus pulled a scroll from where it was tucked into his flight harness, and held it out for Rhumbline The Dodo’s captain took the scroll in his mouth, placed it respectfully on the ground, and unrolled it with his hooves. The letters flowing script, familiar from both his commissioning letter and the letter releasing him from service, told him everything he needed to know. Yet Rhumbline read the letter anyway, out of respect for its author.

Captain Rhumbline,

I hope this letter finds you well. It is with regret that I now must ask you to remember the promise you made the day I released you from your oath of service. Events have transpired that require me to ask you to repeat the voyage you made twenty years ago, this time with my student Twilight Sparkle, and her companion Spike.

I wish to emphasize that you are free to refuse this request. I do not desire to lay a task of this magnitude on anypony against their will. However, as you are aware, you are uniquely qualified for this task among all the airship captains who currently ply the skies.

You will be compensated at a level commensurate with the risk I am asking you to take, should you chose to accept this task.

Princess Celestia

Rhumbline lifted one of his hooves, and the scroll rolled back up. He known this letter would eventually come after that little purple dragon had rampaged through the town. His only surprise was that it took the princess so long to write it. Rhumbline looked up from the scroll at the pony who had brought it to him. “Why did it take the Princess so long to ask?”

Perseus frowned slightly. “There are some things I can’t discuss, even with old friends, Rhumbline. Though I can say the reasons why you left the Princess’ service weighed on her mind during the deliberations.”

“I’m certain they did.” Rhumbline replied quietly, looking at Perseus and trying to avoid the piercing stare of his sister-in-law. There was much that Rhumbline wanted to say to his old friend and sometimes mentor, but Winter’s presence made that impossible. While she was well heeled in the presence of her commander, the visible loathing in her eyes stifled any conversation. “This is a lot the Princess is asking of me.”

“My age hasn’t addled my memory that much, Rhumbline. I remember the voyage.” Perseus replied thoughtfully.

“I’m guessing we are the only ones still around who do.” Rhumbline added quietly. It was a powerful memory, not only for what transpired on that voyage, but for what it meant to him. It was the greatest voyage he had ever been on, and it was the last one he took with his mother. Before the voyage, he had been content to serve in his mother’s shadow, and to take what ever life handed to him. Afterward, he set out to make his own life. That drive brought him command of a royal airship, a wife, and finally the freedom to wander the world on his own.

Perseus nodded. “Cid is too old to remember much of anything anymore, and your mother and Windwalker have both passed. We were the youngest ponies on that voyage.

Rhumbline gave a quick chuckle. “I’d never though I’d hear you call yourself the youngest at anything, you old warhorse.” Rhumbline was just a foal when he first saw Perseus onboard the HMAS Luna, the airship under his mother’s command, as a green recruit standing guard outside the royal cabin on one of Celestia’s tours of Equestria.

“Hmm.. it’s been a while,” Perseus smiled after a short pause. He then relaxed his mouth, and looked keenly at Rhumbline. “So what do you say?”

Rhumbline furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure the Dodo can make the trip, She’s not a young ship and this is a bit outside her designed use.” The Dodo was not built as a long haul airship and her design range was only about 30,000 furlongs. The trip the Princess was asking him to make was nearly five times that. “The Sandpiper isn’t available, is she?”

“Airships carrying the royal seal are not an option.” Perseus replied matter-of-factly, “The Kirin royalty are still upset about the last trip.”

“Kirin?” Winter asked. Her stare had been easing throughout the conversation, and now her eyes were following the conversation.

“They look like a cross between a Deer and a Dragon, but they aren’t related to either.” Rhumbline replied, giving Winter a quick glance and turning back to Perseus. “If I am going to do this, I need time to prepare. I have a lot of repairs to make, plus some modifications. I’d also need to come up with a cargo”

“Cargo?” Winter retorted sharply. “You’re supposed to be transporting passengers to... somewhere. Why do you need a cargo?”

“He needs to keep up appearances, Winter,” Perseus replied sharply.

“They also don’t take bits where we are going,” Rhumbline added.

I also need some way to make money off this trip, Rhumbline thought. Unless the Princess Celestia is going to pay me some princely sum, there is no way this is going to be a money making proposition.

“I’ll need to be paid in advance, and I’ll need some help finding a suitable Pegasus scout,” Rhumbline continued. The scout would be tough. Not only did Rhumbline need to find a pegasus that was skilled in reading the weather, this pegasus needed to be a strong flier. The toughest part to fill was that the pegasus would need to go to where Rhumbline was headed, and this was not something you could tell by meeting somepony on the street.

“Payment in advance is not a problem, The Princess is aware of your... Financial difficulties,” Perseus replied. “And Winter will be your scout.”

“What?!” The Gray pegasus mare exclaimed. Turning her head so quickly that her rough cut mane swished in the wind.

Rhumbline snorted. “Good one Perseus... Wait, you’re serious, aren’t you?” The white stallion’s commanding gaze at his sister-in-law was all the answer he needed. Rhumbline almost voiced a quick complaint, but held his tongue. Winter was as skilled at reading the weather as most trained weather mares. By all rights she should have followed her father into the weather control bureau, but she had idolized Autumn so much that she went into the guard instead. She was a skilled flier, and had done an excellent job of scouting onboard the HMAS Sandpiper, the airship Rhumbline commanded in service to Celestia’s.

The Sandpiper was a small, fast airship, built to ferry diplomats and diplomatic messages to the other kingdoms throughout the world. It was his first command, and the only one he held in his service to Celestia. While the Sandpiper did not have the prestige of the grander royal airships like the HMAS Luna, it suited him.

Whenever the Sandpiper was on a diplomatic mission, the royal guard always sent one or two pegasus guards with it to scout and provide protection. This was how he had first met Autumn and it was on one of these voyages that they had fallen in love.

In the year after Autumn left the guard, Winter had been assigned to more of these voyages than was strictly proper, given the normal rotation of guards through the task. Rhumbline had assumed that it was Perseus trying to help Winter get over her feelings of betrayal. While Winter was always professional on the voyages, the trips were not pleasant for either pony.

“Winter would be a good choice,” Rhumbline said diplomatically, giving her sister-in-law an appraising look that she returned with a frown. “Was this your decision or was it Princess Celestia’s?”

“All orders to the guard are mine, even if it originally came from one of the Princesses,” Perseus replied noncommittally. “Although, I’m surprised you were so open to the suggestion.”

“I have no problems working with Winter, her skills are perfect for the job.” Rhumbline replied to Perseus. He turned his attention to Winter, giving her a hard look. “As long as you remember the rules.”

“You gave up your commission when you left the Their Majesties’ service.” Winter snarled.

“Winter. My ship, my mission, my command.” Rhumbline said sternly, holding his glare at the mare and taking a step forward. He was a full head taller then Winter, and probably weighed 10 stone more than her. Rhumbline’s lifetime of hard work on the deck of an airship had left him strong and lean.

Winter stared back at Rhumbline defiantly but held her tongue. Rhumbline knew Winter would be too disciplined to defy an order from the guard captain and she would carry out that duty honorably. However, she could be more trouble than she was worth unless she recognized who was in charge. Rhumbline held his gaze.

“Yes, sir,” Winter finally replied, with the barest hit of resignation in her voice. Her blue eyes still bored into Rhumbline but he knew that he had won.

“You see Perseus, there was no reason for you to be surprised, Winter and I can work together fine.” Rhumbline said with mock cheer, taking a step back and relaxing.

Perseus frowned. “I’m not sure I like you intimidating one of my guards, Rhumbline.”

“My ship, my command. It applies to everypony, even you, friend.” Rhumbline replied with a smile. ”The only ponies I take orders from on my ship are the Princesses, and maybe, on occasion, Prince Blueblood.”

The White stallion let a small grin appear on his mouth. “I see why Blueblood never liked you. So is this a yes?”

“It’s a maybe.” Rhumbline replied quickly. “Let me think about it while I help my engineer beat the ship’s engine into submission. There is food and drink in the galley, help yourselves and relax. We are heading to Canterlot, so you won’t lose too much time if you relax here.”

Perseus nodded, and Rhumbline headed below to help Kayleigh with the engine.

The hamlet of Ponyville glided below. The Dodo cruised under the power of her engines, a quiet thrum of the engines the only sound of her passage. The lamplight from inside the homes was starting to show in the failing light of evening. Rhumbline imagined that Palette was below, waving at him as the Dodo passed overhead. Pip was probably doing the same thing for Joe.

Rhumbline sighed. This was supposed to be the last voyage before Hearth’s Warming and he was finally going to get some time home with his family.

“It’s amazing what ponies will sacrifice for duty,” Rhumbline muttered.

Perseus, who was looking over the rail with Rhumbline, nodded. “It’s the story of our lives, friend. Though I thought our voyage cured you of any particular attachment to duty”

“Just like it cured you?” Rhumbline chuckled. “We were both blindly attached to duty. Me to my mother and the Airship service, and you to defending the Princess.”

“And in opening my eyes to that blindness, Baolong allowed me to better carry out my duties to the Princess.” Perseus muttered thoughtfully, his eyes looking off in the distance. “Much as it did for you, in your own way.”

“What do you think Winter will choose as a gift for Baolong?” Rhumbline asked quietly. Perseus had sent Winter ahead to inform Princess Celestia of Rhumbline’s decision and to get herself ready for the voyage. Up on the Dodo’s Fo’c’sle with nopony around to overhear them, the secret they shared no longer held them to silence, and they could speak freely. Just the mention of that name, the first time Rhumbline had mentioned it since his mother had died, was refreshing.

“I’m not sure. She doesn’t have much in the way of possessions. I’m really don’t know what she would come up with that is of great personal significance to her,” Perseus replied, continuing to gaze at the world passing below. “How about your crew? How do you think they will react?”

Rhumbline rubbed his chin, ”I think they will be confused, but they are a good crew, and will do what will need to be done.” Though it would be an interesting discussion, especially with Kayleigh. That mare could be so full of questions, she always wanted to know why.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t have done this task for you, Rhumbline.” Perseus said in a voice barley over a whisper. “But I don’t remember the way, and my duties, for as long as I still have them, require me to stay here.”

“I am sorry that you can’t come with me, Perseus.” Rhumbline replied warmly. “We both could use help understanding the changes in our lives. I’m just afraid what that help will cost.” Rhumbline’s voice trailed off. Because of Baolong, he recognized his potential and became not only Earth pony airship captain but a husband and father as well. Yet, his path in life had cost Autumn a promising career in the Royal guard where she would have likely became guard captain. His path also ultimately drove him from the Royal service, and caused him to rack up a huge debt in order to be the family pony he wanted to be, yet still fly the skies that he loved.

Rhumbline’s ears perked as he heard the light clopping of hooves on the deck astern of him, and he sighed. Rhumbline wanted to speak more with Perseus about their shared secret, but their promise to Baolong demanded silence infront of outsiders.

Rhumbline looked back to see Kayleigh walking forward to join them. Her yellow coat was coated with engine grease and Rhumbline figured she was leaving hoofprints on the Dodo’s deck. Her purple mane was an unruly mass of curls, held in place with equal helpings of sweat and engine oil.

“How’s the engine behaving, Kayleigh?” Rhumbline called.

“Well enough,” Kayleigh’s cheery voice replied as she came over to the rail to stand next to the two stallions. “At least well enough to get us to port.”

“How long do you think you will need to complete the repairs and modifications we talked about?” Rhumbline asked. He had a long discussion with her between hammer blows over what would be needed to get the Dodo ready for the voyage. He had an idea how to extend the Dodo’s range and Kayleigh had the plan needed to carry it out.

“A week if it’s just me, Captain,” Kayleigh replied, She scratched her mane with a greasy hoof, leaving it even more tangled than it was before. “Maybe four days if we bring in somepony who knows what they are doing to help.”

Rhumbline furrowed his brow as he looked back over the rail. The light was fading fast and he would need to take the helm from Joe. Joe hadn’t yet mastered navigating solely by the magical navigational compass and the approach to Canterlot was dangerous at night, especially for the inexperienced. But first, he needed to let Perseus know when he would be ready. It would be a decision between speed and cost.

“Bring in the help, Kayleigh.” Rhumbline grumbled. The sooner he got started on the voyage, the more likely he would have it finished before the worst of the winter weather set in. Rhumbline raised his head and looked at Perseus. “Tell the Princess that we will be in Ponyville to pick up Twilight Sparkle in five days, and we will leave first thing in the morning of the sixth.”

Perseus nodded and took a step back from the rail, getting ready to fly. “Friend, if I don’t see you before you depart, have a safe voyage.” Rhumbline gave his friend a nod and a wave, and the white stallion took off from the Fo’c’sle, headed off towards Canterlot.

Rhumbline turned to head towards the pilot house, but he stopped after a few steps, and turned back to his engineer. “Do you think your mother is going to try to get me arrested for kidnapping again? We are going to be in Canterlot for a lot longer than normal.”

Kayleigh gave a quick laugh. “Probably Captain, though I don’t think it will work. I’m sure I’ve convinced the Canterlot police that I am old enough to make my own decisions. But, I’m going to stop by home tonight and let them know I am alright.”

Rhumbline nodded. “That’s fine. Just be sure to be back first thing in the morning. Tell your father that his cousin would like to have him over for dinner before I leave.”

“You got it, Captain,” Kayleigh’s cheery voice replied as Rhumbline walked back to the pilothouse. It was nearly dark and Joe gets really nervous when he can’t see where he was going. Joe tried to put on a brave face, but Rhumbline could tell a lot about working an Airship scared him. Rhumbline didn’t think any less of Joe for his fear, It’s a normal reaction for an earth pony, who always felt better when they had four hooves firmly on the ground.

“I was startin’ ta get worried that you forgot ‘bout me Cap’n.” Joe said with relief as Rhumbline opened the door to the pilot house.

“I wouldn’t forget about you Joe.” Rhumbline replied as he navigated the dark pilothouse to the helm. Joe moved aside to let Rhumbline take control of the airship. Rhumbline took a quick look at the position of the red, green and blue beams of light in the crystal display of the navigational compass and adjusted the Dodo’s course slightly to starboard to regain track. That done, he turned to Joe. “So, will you be joining me on this next voyage?”

“I was hopin’ to get some time with Pip and Estella. But you pay well enough, an’ I might find some nice hearth’s warmin’ gifts on the far side of the world.” Joe replied, a hint of resignation in his voice. He donned his hat, and walked towards the door.

“Glad to have you for another voyage, Joe.” Rhumbline replied, watching the white and brown stallion headed out the door, and trotted forward to talk with Kayleigh as they prepared the Dodo for what would be a busy couple of days in Canterlot.

Chapter 3: Twilight Sparkle

The Ties that Bind

By Birdco
Pre-read by : Fyre-medi, Yoshimon1

“In this you are bound. Speak of this not to any outsider. Only those to whom I have shared my wisdom may bring others before me.”

-Baolong to Celestia, during the Time of Chaos.

Chapter 3: Twilight Sparkle

“I really appreciate both of you agreeing to watch the library while Spike and I are away,” Twilight said to Applejack and Fluttershy. She had just finished reviewing with them the detailed list she had made the night before of all the things that needed to be done to keep the library running. “This won’t be too much of a bother for you two, will it?”

“Not at all, sugarcube.” Applejack replied warmly, “The last harvest is in, an’ all ah really have to do is a little fixin’ up around the farm, an’ sellin’ some apple preserves.”

“And most of the animals are starting to hibernate, so thing are getting easier for me as well,” Fluttershy added softly. “I’m certain between the two of us we can keep the library open most days.”

“Well, thank you very much” Twilight replied, her horn glowing as she rolled up the list. It had been a hectic several days getting ready to leave. She had been worried how to keep the library open during her absence, but Fluttershy had offered a solution. Twilight was over at her friend’s cottage arranging for Fluttershy to check up on Owlowiscious while she was gone. She had intended for Owlowiscious to spend her absence at Fluttershy’s cottage, so he wouldn’t be alone, but the yellow pegasus had offered to care for her owl at the library. She had also offered to open the library for the time she was going to spend there in the evening.

“So, um... Twilight, how is Spike doing?” Fluttershy asked, concern in her voice. She had been checking up on the baby dragon regularly after his Rampage through the town after his birthday.

“Spike? Well... he is still brooding.” Twilight replied. To make amends after his hoarding rampage, Spike had apologized to the whole town and did what he could to help with the repairs. Twilight was proud of her assistant, and the hard work seemed to help Spike deal with the guilt he harbored.

Spike had started returning to his old self, but this all changed when Celestia’s letter arrived five days ago. The letter commended Spike for his efforts to make amends, but it said that the time has come for Spike to learn about himself in order to make the decision on his future. They were to partake in a long voyage by airship, but beyond this, the Princess offered no details. Since then, Spike had become really defensive and spent all his spare time brooding in the bedroom.

“Spike doesn’t still think that the Princess is banishin’ him, does he?” Applejack said.

“I keep on telling him that Celestia isn’t mad at him, but he doesn’t want to believe me.” Twilight sighed. The purple unicorn really didn’t know where he got these ideas. He had lived close to Princess Celestia all his life, and she has always been kind to him. It’s was probably just because he was confused by the dragon urges he had felt. He was a dragon living among ponies and no matter how much Twilight thought she knew her assistant, there would still be things she didn’t understand about him. “I don’t think Spike will believe anypony until he knows where we are going.”

“Well, don’t ya think it odd that Celestia hasn’t told you where y’all are goin’?” Applejack asked.

Odd? No. Frustrating? Yes, Twilight thought. Twilight had written Princess Celestia back immediately after receiving the first letter and asked her for more information. Celestia’s reply had been just as vague as the first letter. This was probably another one of her lessons. She often gave Twilight just enough information for her to figure it out, but no more. Twilight has spend much of the past few days reading through her books, trying to figure out where she would be going. “No, Applejack. I’m not really surprised. When I first came to Ponyville, she didn’t tell me what I was really here for. She just told me to make friends. This is probably one of those things where it is more important for me to figure it out on my own.”

“That must get frustrating,” Fluttershy said.

You have no idea, Twilight thought. “Not really, I’m used to it by now. I think when we meet the airship captain today and find out more, Spike will feel better.” She said optimistically.

“Rhumbline seems like a nice enough stallion. He should take good care of y’all,” Applejack said.

“Do you know him?” Twilight asked. He had looked familiar to her the few times she had seen him walking around town, but she couldn’t place where he was familiar from.

“He buys some of mah apple products to trade. But beyond business, ah really don’t know him all that well. Ah know his wife and daughter a little better, since mah stand is near their shop. They are nice enough, but they’re strugglin’ to make ends meet.” Applejack said thoughtfully.

“Really?” Twilight said with surprise. She had visited their store once or twice, to check out. It was small, but it had some interesting and exotic things in it. “I figured if they had an airship, they had a lot of bits.”

“Their airship is like mah farm. Ah bring in a lot of bits, but I have to spend ah lot keepin the farm fixed up, replacin’ apple trees that die durin’ the season, and other expenses. Ah do ok, but one bad season could cause me a lot of problems. Rhumbline has a lot of bits tied up in that airship, and the cargo he carries.” Applejack explained. “Speakin’ of which, ah need to be headin’ back to the farm to ready a delivery to the airship. He wants to take a load of mah preserves where ever he is goin’.”

“Sure thing, Applejack, thanks for stopping by,” Twilight said as she walked with Applejack to the door of the library. She waved goodbye to her friend, watching her as she trotted off.

“So um, Twilight, aren’t you scared?” Fluttershy asked meekly, joining Twilight at the door.

“About what?” Twilight replied. Fluttershy was sometimes scared of her own shadow, so she could be referring to any number of things.

“Well, you’re going up in an airship and um... it’s getting to be winter.” Fluttershy said. “And Rhumbline is an earth pony and not a unicorn or pegasus.”

“What does that have to do with anything.” Twilight inquired, arching her eyebrow. She had never though of Fluttershy as the type of pony that would care about the differences between the pony races. Especially since she was a pegasus who was doing a job normally associated with Earth ponies

“Well, earth ponies usually don’t like being in the air. I though they normally preferred trains and ships, “ Fluttershy explained quietly, obviously embarrassed to be talking about another pony in this way. “Also, with the weather starting to get bad, I figure that taking an airship anywhere would be dangerous. I know a lot of pegasi who won’t fly long distances in the winter because the weather can be so unpredictable.”

Twilight thought about this. She did have a point. The weather did get rough in the winter and she didn’t know of many earth ponies that worked on balloons or airships. During the couple of times that Princess Celestia took her on her airship, she had only ever seen pegasi and unicorns onboard. She only once seen an earth pony in the crew of an airship.

“That’s where I know him from.” Twilight thought out loud.

“Huh?” Fluttershy said with confusion, “Know who?”

“Oh... Rhumbline” Twilight replied quickly. She hadn’t realized she had spoken out loud. “I think I saw him on Princess Celestia’s airship, back when I was just starting as her student. I think he was some kind of navigator.”

“Really? I guess if he served on one of Celestia’s airships, he must know what he is doing.” Fluttershy replied, inching towards the door. “Um, Twilight. I need to be going. I have a few animals I need to get ready for hibernation. Have a safe trip, and tell Spike I said goodbye.”

“Sure thing, Fluttershy. Thanks again for helping me out.” The purple unicorn replied, seeing her friend to the door. They waved their goodbyes and Twilight Sparkle turned back to her library, looking longingly at her home. This place had become as more of a home to her than her room in the royal library ever was. It felt odd having to leave her home and her friends for such a long journey. A journey that she didn’t even know the destination of.

Twilight walked to the small pile of things she made near the door and looked through the list she had made one more time. Since she was traveling on an airship, Twilight felt comfortable traveling with more things than she normally would for a trip. In addition to the quills, parchment and ink, she had gathered a small pile of books she though might help her on the voyage.

Twilight had thought a while on where they may be traveling to. Celestia had told her that they would be traveling by airship and that they would be gone for several weeks. Twilight guessed that they would be traveling across the Sunrise ocean and far into the heart of the eastern continent. A lot of dragons lived in those lands, and it was the only place that where it made sense to risk an airship flight this time of year. What Twilight didn’t understand is why they were taking a civilian airship, instead of one of the royal airships.

The pile included all the books she had about the area. A lot was known about the coasts of the eastern continent from merchants frequent travels there. However, the vast interior region far from the coasts were rarely visited by ponykind. There were precious few books in Equestrian that talked of these lands.

Also in the pile of things she was taking was her ‘gift’. This part of the letter confused Twilight the most. Twilight was supposed to bring with her something that she valued not for what it was, but for what it represented. Twilight had agonized over this item for several days. Eventually, she settled on her small telescope. It had been a gift from her parents when she had been accepted as Celestia’s student. It wasn’t worth much, and she hadn’t used it since she got her new telescope, but it was the telescope she used when she stargazed with Princess Celestia. It would be hard for Twilight to part with it, but it was something she needed to do.

Twilight glanced at her clock. Pinkie pie had volunteered to help her to take her things to the airship with the Cake’s cart after she got off from work. That was only in a few hours and there was still much to do. Spike had been up in his bedroom since after lunch and Twilight really needed his help to finish up.

“Spike!... Spiiike. Come on down here. We need to finish getting the Library ready before we can leave.” Twilight yelled up the stairs towards her bedroom and study.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes, Twilight.” Spike called down the stairs. “Let me finish gathering my stuff together.

“Alright, but don’t take to long, we need to head to the airship in just a few hours.” Twilight yelled back.

Twilight heard a knock at the door and turned to see a light blue Stallion with a blue mane streaked with gray opening the door.

“Excuse me, Ms. Sparkle,” The stallion said when his eyes met Twilight’s, “Do you mind if we come in?”

Twilight immediately recognized her new guest as Rhumbline, and seeing him confirmed her suspicions from before. He looked a lot older, but he was definately the stallion she had seen on Celestia’s Airship.

“Of course, come right in,” Twilight said, motioning the blue stallion into her library. “I wasn’t expecting you to stop by, Rhumbline.”

“I have a few things I want to talk to you and Spike about before you come to the airship.” Rhumbline replied as he entered the library He was wearing a pair of saddlebags with a rolled up chart sticking out of one of them. Behind him, a young Unicorn mare trotted in, giving Twilight a smile. She had a yellow coat and mane that was a mass of purple hair, which was tied up but badly in need of a styling.

“Miss Sparkle, This is my cousin’s daughter, Kamelia Leyline. She is my engineer.” The stallion said, motioning to his companion.

“Call me Kayleigh” the yellow unicorn said cheerfully, holding out a slightly greasy hoof out in greeting.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, looking for a moment at the outstreched hoof. It was a little greasy, but not to shake would be rude. Whats a little grease, anyway? Twilight thought as she returned the gesture. “Nice to meet you”

The yellow unicorn shook Twilight’s hoof with vigor, with a grin from ear to ear. “Its really nice to meet you.” She said with awe. “I’m really looking forward to having you onboard the Dodo. There are so many things I want to ask you.”

“Kayleigh, let’s not be pestering our passenger.” Rhumbline said, looking at the young unicorn. “Why don’t you look around the library like you wanted to while I discuss business with Miss Sparkle.”

“Captain, would you check out a book or two for me for the trip?” Kayleigh asked enthusiastically. She gazed in awe at the large collection of books on the first floor of the library.

“Sure, just as long as they are books on enchantments and diagnostic spells.” Rhumbline replied. “Your entrance exams are in a few months, and I haven’t seen you do a lick of studying. You might be good with machines, but if you can’t tend the enchantments on an airship, you’re not going to get through the airship engineering program.”

“But...” Kayleigh started to plead, but Rhumbline gave her a hard look. “Ok...”

“My magic collection is over there,” Twilight said, pointing to a group of shelves on the other side of the Library. Twilight looked at the greasy hooves again, a small frown showing on her face. “Could you just grab them with telekinesis though... Grease is rough on books.”

“Oh, Right,” Kayleigh replied, looking at her hooves and rubbing them on the floor. “I’ll be careful” she said, trotting off towards the shelf.

Both ponies watched Kayleigh look at the book shelf for a moment, then Rhumbline turned to Twilight. “I’m certain you have some questions for me, and I have several things I need to go over with you... Is Spike around?

“I’m coming down” the dragon called from the stairs. Spike had a small sack over his shoulder. At the bottom, Spike looked appraisingly at the blue stallion, who towered over the baby dragon.

“Hello Spike,” Rhumbline said, smiling at the small dragon, “You are a lot larger than the first time I saw you.”

Spike looked at himself quickly. “I don’t think I’ve grown that much since your welcome party a couple of months ago.”

“Spike, I think he saw you earlier than that,” Twilight said thoughtfully, “Rhumbline, you were on Princess Celestia’s airship several years ago, weren’t you?”

“I was,” Rhumbline replied, nodding. “I’m surprised you remember. You were so busy studying with the Princess that you hardly left her side.”

“I remember asking you about how you navigated using the stars, when I saw you doing it one night” Twilight reminisced. Celestia had frequently stayed up long hours at night looking at the moon and stars, and she had frequently brought Twilight to sit beside her, so she could give a lesson, or just talk. One such night was about a year after Celestia took Twilight as a student. The Princess was on a tour of Equestria, and she brought Twilight along to teach her about the different peoples of her lands. They were on the royal airship’s deck, and she saw a blue earth pony operating an instrument while looking at the stars. Twilight had asked Celestia what he was doing, and her answer was to tell Twilight to ask the stallion. “You were really nice when you showed me all the calculations you needed to do so you could navigate by the stars”

“It wasn’t every day that a cute filly came up to me to ask me about my job.” The blue stallion said warmly, smiling. “I guess we will get an opportunity to continue that lesson. It’s going to be a long trip, two to three weeks there and back, depending on the weather.”

“Where are we going?” Spike asked pointedly.

Rhumbline relaxed his smile, and turned his green eyes towards Spike. “I can’t tell you”

“What do you mean, you cant tell me? You are the captain of the airship going there.” Spike responded, the volume of his voice increasing.

“Spike, calm down.” Twilight interjected gently. Although she really wanted to know were they were going as well, antagonizing the airship’s captain wouldn’t get them any closer to that knowledge.

“No, Twilight. You won’t tell me. Princess Celestia won’t tell me. Now this pony won’t tell me.” Spike yelled, desperation creeping into his voice. “The only reason you won’t tell me is if you are going to take me somewhere and leave me there.”

Twilight went to open her mouth to respond, the Rhumbline beat her to it. “Spike,” The stallion said firmly, with a voice that demanded attention, “It is true I know where we are going, but for reasons I cannot explain, I can’t tell you where we are going. However, I will be teaching you, and miss Sparkle the route while we are on it.”

This answer didn’t seem to satisfy Spike, he still looked agitated. It didn’t satisfy Twilight either. She had been hoping to get more information from Rhumbline, but his answer just raised more questions.

“You can’t tell us where we are going, but you are going to make sure we know how we got there? That doesn't make sense,” Twilight said.

A pained expression came over the stallion’s face, like he was trying to think of some thing to say, but not coming up with an answer.

“I really can’t explain it. It’s important I don’t reveal where we are going, but it is also important that you and Spike know how we got there,” Rhumbline said after a few minutes. He reached back and pulled a small book, and a rolled up chart out of his saddlebags, and laid them on the floor. “It’s probably better I show you some things that might help. Do you have a copy of ‘The Travels of Mareco Polo?’”

“I do.” Twilight replied quickly. It was in the pile of books she wanted to take with her on the airship. It was written long ago, by a pony explorer who decided to find out what was on the Eastern continent. It was a very interesting book, and told a lot about the geography and creatures there. Twilight levitated the book out of the pile, and laid it next to the map that Rhumbline had unrolled on the floor of the library.

Rhumbline quickly, yet gently hoofed through the book, showing a deftness with handling pages Twilight hadn’t expected from an earth pony stallion. She and Spike inched closer to see what he was doing, and Kayleigh came over from the bookshelf to join them.

“Start reading here, and continue through the first few pages of the next chapter” Rhumbline said, moving out of the way, allowing the two unicorns and Spike to read the book.

Twilight read slowly, so to not outpace her reading companions. The words were familiar, she had skimmed the book only a few days before. The passage they were reading started right after Mareco Polo had been set upon by griffins, and had been forced to give up much of her supplies to the raiders. She wrote about a valley cutting through an imposing range of mountains, so high that their tops were constantly in clouds. The remainder of the chapter was about the trek through the pass, and about the dragon that watched their passage from a cave along the mountain path.

The next chapter started with Mareco polo and her companions traveling down a river, passing flat farm lands. heading to the great Kirin cities on the coast. This struck her as odd. While there were some jumps between other chapters of this book, this one was large, just on terms of geography.

“Captain, there is a big gap of time between the chapters” The yellow unicorn piped up, before Twilight could speak.

Rhumbline nodded, and pointed to the chart on the floor. “Now find the places on the chart.”

Twilight looked, it was a chart of the eastern continent, with a light pencil line drawn across it from the western coast to the great mountain range that split the continents east coast from the west. Twilight quickly found the pass described in the book, since the pencil line ended at it. the river was a little harder to find, but Twilight found it in about a minute. These points were a great distance apart, nearly 8000 furlongs, if she read the scale correctly.

Twilight pointed to the two points on the map. “They are a huge distance apart.”

The blue stallion nodded, looking at the other three. He opened the small book to a page he had already bookmarked “This is my mother’s journal, where she documented all of her voyages.” Twilight looked at it, and it showed a similar gap, with entries separated by several days, and separated by a large geographic distance.

“I don’t get it” Spike said, scratching his head. “Why are there these gaps?”

“The same reason I can’t tell you.” Rhumbline said cryptically. “I can’t explain it further, but just understand it is the same reason these other ponies could not write about it.”

Twilight still didn’t understand. “You can take us there, but you cant tell where we are going, or who we are seeing beforehoof?” Twilight said, looking at the map. Both Mareco Polo’s book, and Rhumbline’s mother’s journal skipped over the same area, the parts of the Kirin lands far from the coast. It was a place Ponies never went, since the Kirin Royalty forbid outsiders in all but a few coastal cities. “Are we going to see a Kirin?” She asked

Rhumbline frowned, “It’s not a question I can answer. However, we will meet with some Kirin, and that was another reason I came here, to give you this.” The old stallion reached into his saddlebags, and pulled out another book, a small one, and placed it on the floor in front of Twilight.

Twilight took a close look at the book. On its frayed and faded cover read ‘The Culture and Language of the Jintudi’. Twilight carefully opened the book, the pages were well worn, and the ink was starting to fade. The writing in the book was not print, or the fine script of unicorns, but the rough script of ponies that must write with their mouth. “What is it?”

“It’s a book about the Kirin, written by one of the first ponies to establish a regular trading route to the golden coast.” Rhumbline replied. “Its pretty old, written back when the voyages there were made by sailing ship and took most of a year.

“Where did you get it?” Twilight asked, examining the book. It fascinated her, it clearly was very rare.

“My mother gave it to me when I made this voyage for the first time, some twenty years ago” Rhumbline said. “Now I am giving it to you.”

“Wait, you’re giving it to me?” Twilight said in shock. “This book is mouth written, and clearly very old. It has to be valuable. I can’t accept it.”

“Miss Sparkle,” Rhumbline said seriously, “My job is to get you and Spike to your destination ready to do what you will need to do. I have the added difficulty of not being able to what you need to prepare for. I have a rule on my airship: My airship, my command. Even though this is your task, I am the only pony going that can get you to where Spike needs to go. This is only going to work if you listen to what I tell you, and do it without questioning why I’m telling you to do it.”

Twilight almost voiced a protest, but she stopped herself. Rhumbline spoke with the tone of somepony who not only expected to be obeyed, but was used to it. It was an odd experience for Twilight. Normally other ponies came to her for direction and advice.

“Rhumbline isn’t mean, it’s just that on an airship, sometimes there isn’t time for discussion.” Kayleigh added cheerfully. “When there is time, he asks us for what we think. But sometimes, things need to happen fast.”

“Kayleigh, that sounds very odd coming from you.” Rhumbline said, arching his eyebrows as he gave the yellow unicorn a glance. He turned his attention back to Twilight and Spike. “I have the greatest respect for what you’ve done for Equestria, Miss Sparkle. But what we are trying to is risky, and I can’t afford there to be any doubt of who is in charge.”

“I understand, though I’m not as special as you think I am,” Twilight replied. It made sense, Twilight had very little idea what she would be facing, and Rhumbline seemed competent. However, she didn’t like other ponies treating her specially. “I wouldn’t even know what to do on an airship.”

“Everypony has something to contribute on my airship, even passengers, and everypony will need to do their part to ensure we make it to our destination.” Rhumbline said. “The last time I made the trip, It was on an airship that had been purpose built for the voyage. The Sandpiper was much faster than the Dodo, and we were able to avoid much of the hazards on the trip.

Rhumbline pointed to an area on the map, west of the great mountain range that split the continent. It was a vast open expanse of rolling hills spotted by isolated mountains. “This is the Dragon Steppes. It’s not a particularly safe place, but the quickest route to our destination is over this land. Miss Sparkle, your magical abilities will be very useful should we run across something unfriendly. Also, I don’t have somepony who can tend the enchantments of the lifting envelope,” Rhumbline quickly glanced at Kayleigh, “So any help you can provide will be useful.”

“What about me?” Spike asked. The dragon had become interested in the conversation, and seemed much less agitated.

“My crew will be very busy running the airship, Spike,” Rhumbline said warmly. “There are many small tasks you can do which will help make things easier for me and my crew. We will work on splitting up duties when you get to the airship.

Rhumbline turned his attention back to Twilight, “I will be having dinner on the airship with Kayleigh and my family. You both are welcome to join us if you want.”

“We were looking to head over to take out things to the airship in a few hours.” Twilight replied “Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much bother to have us for dinner”

“Not at all,” Rhumbline said with a smile, “I’m going to be feeding you two for the next few weeks, so what’s one more meal? Anyway, it’s sort of a tradition with my family, and you would be welcome to join us.”

Rhumbline looked at Kayleigh, “So what did you pick”

The yellow unicorn levitated a book to show the blue stallion. “‘Methodologies of Artificer Enchantment’. Is this book fine?”

“I’m not a unicorn, Kayleigh. It sounds like something that would help you study for your entrance exam,” Rhumbline said, shrugging, and looking towards Twilight.

“It’s as good as anything I have here.” Twilight replied. “Its a little advanced, but it should do the trick. I’ll put it on your families list, Rhumbline.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you later tonight.” Rhumbline said. He rolled up his chart, and put it and his book into his saddlebags. On his way out the door, he turned back towards Twilight. “Oh, and make sure to bring the warmest clothes you own. We will be traveling at altitude, and fairly far north for a lot of the voyage. I have heaters on the Dodo, but it will still be cold.

“Thanks for telling me, I’ll see you later tonight,” Twilight said as she waved goodbye to the stallion and mare as they headed off towards the edge of town.

Chapter 4: Autumn Gale

The Ties that Bind

By Birdco
Pre-read by : AlexKadin, Blayden, Rokas, Yoshimon1

“Love is missing somepony whenever you’re apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you’re close at heart.”

Chapter 4: Autumn Gale

“Come on, mom!“ Palette yelled as the Dodo finally came in to view. She bounded ahead then stopped and turned to look at Autumn.

“I’m coming, Pallette.” Autumn replied, maintaining her easy trot. Normally she would have picked up the pace, and indulged her daughter’s enthusiasm. However, Autumn was getting to the point in her pregancy where trotting and running was getting uncomfortable. Also, she was starting to tire from the six furlong walk from the edge of town to the place Rhumbline moored his airship. “We will be there in a few minutes.”

The countryside was starting to darken as the sun set behind the mountains that sat to the west of Ponyville. In the growing darkness revealed the chill in the late autumn air, which had been hidden by the sun’s warmth. Autumn knew the snows of winter would not be long in coming. The skies were rough in the winter, poor flying weather for airships and pegasi alike.

Rhumbline had planned to lay up the Dodo in a sheltered valley near town, and sit out the winter with his family. Autumn had been looking forward to this. Other than the few months she and Palette had lived onboard the Dodo before they settled in Ponyville, Autumn had not seen her husband for more than a week or so at a time during their whole marriage. While things were better now that Rhumbline had struck out on his own, he still was away from home more than he was there.

Now Rhumbline was preparing for another voyage. He had spent the last several days moored in Canterlot, working on the airship. He only just returned to Ponyville this morning, and save a short visit to the shop, he has been focused on getting the Dodo ready. Only one day in Ponyville, spent preparing for the weeks long voyage he would be embarking on.

Autumn blinked back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. It’s the hormones, she thought, taking a deep, calming breath. Autumn normally didn’t get emotional about Rhumbline traveling. But this time was much harder, and the mood swings of pregnancy didn’t help.

Autumn watched her daughter bound down the river lane, her yellow hair bouncing in step with her joyful prancing. Autumn looked over their family’s airship as she neared the bend in the river where the Dodo sat. Rhumbline and Joe were on the deck, working the cargo boom and bringing up a case from a wagon below. Autumn recognized the large, red stallion and orange mare unloading the cart as Big Macintosh and Applejack, since the Apple clan usually set up their cart near her shop. The were only a couple of hundred strides from the airship, and Palette galloped off, unable to contain her enthusiasm any longer.

Autumn didn’t stop her. Palette knew enough about the airship to be careful when cargo was moving. Autumn was proud that her daughter was so assertive and confident. She was a fine addition to the Gale family line, no matter what her family thought of the filly.

Autumn had given up much for her daughter. She gave up a promising career in the royal guard, estranged herself from her family, and now struggled to make ends meet to give her a chance at a normal life and education. But Autumn wouldn’t have it any other way; Palette has brought so much joy to her and Rhumbline’s life. It made the decision to have another foal easy, even though money was tight.

Palette ran up to the wagon and greeted the Apple clan, getting smiles and words of welcome from the two ponies. Applejack and Big Mac were always kind to the filly, as they were to all the young ponies in town, and frequently put up with Autumn’s daughter when she was in the mood to paint pictures of produce. It was tough to find the money to give her daughter the tools she needed to express her talent, but Rhumbline always found ways to trade for art supplies on his travels. The greetings completed, Palette bounded up the gangplank of the airship, and joined her father on the deck.

The Dodo rested comfortably in the river, its balloon floating lazily above the airships wooden hull. The ship’s propellers were pointed upward and folded, clearing them out of the way for the cargo operations. The ship showed evidence of the work her husband had done on it. When he had first bought the Dodo, she was a worn out liner, no longer fit for service. Now she looked as airworthy as ever, even though she still looked homely. The new lines and planks contrasted with peeling paint and patched balloon, and to an untrained eye the Dodo would look like a wreck. But this airship had been Autumn’s home for nearly six months, and she knew her every plank.

Out of place, however, was the gray Pegasus mare sitting on the airships Fo’c’sle, looking uncomfortable. Autumn could only imagine how conflicted her sister must have felt, to have a duty to perform, yet have that duty conflict with her personal feelings.

Maybe Winter will finally get over her distrust of Rhumbline, Autumn hoped.

Autumn stopped and returned a wave that her husband gave her while he waited for Big Mac to tie up the final crate to the cargo line. She could see Palette and Pip peering over the railing, watching the red stallion work. Autumn was happy to see that Joe had brought Pip to the airship. That little colt idolized his father. Autumn frequently watched Pip the evenings that his mother, Estella, had a shift at the hospital. Pip was always talking about how he wanted to see Joe working on the airship.

“How ya doin’, Autumn,” Applejack greeted as Autumn arrived up to the cart. Big Mac, who just finished hooking up the crate to the cargo line, nodded to Autumn and gave her a smile.

“I’m not too bad, Applejack. Just a little tired,” Autumn replied. She and Applejack would talk on occasion when business was slow.

“Ah could imagine, it’s not a short walk from town.” Applejack said, then she lowered her voice. “Sugarcube, if y’all need any help, don’t be afraid to ask. Ah know things are tight for y’all, and with you’re husband leavin’ again...”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m sure things will be fine,” Autumn said quickly. Things were tight, and without any new merchandise to sell in her shop, bits would be hard to come by. However, Autumn didn’t want to make a habit of relying on the generosity of others. As long as she had her hooves and wings, she would find a way to make ends meet.

It wasn’t that Rhumbline wasn’t trying. He was an excellent navigator and Airship captain. He just wasn’t much of a business pony. He was doing well enough to break even with his trading, but not much better. To help his family get by, Rhumbline had been taking some of the cargo he had picked up of his travels, and leaving it with Autumn to sell at retail prices in Ponyville. This brought in just enough money to pay the rent on the shop and to buy food.

Unfortunately, this time was different. Rhumbline had to pour so many bits into getting the Dodo ready for the voyage that he had very little left over for cargo, even with the large sum of bits given to him to take the task. He had taken the several bolts of fine wool fabric he had picked up to sell to Rarity, the local dressmaker in Ponyville, and instead traded them for gems for the voyage.

“Ah understand, but the offer is open.” Applejack said, genuine concern her eyes. The three ponies watched the crate be lifted onto the Dodo in silence.

A few minutes later, after the crate had been brought aboard, and the cargo boom stowed, Rhumbline, Joe and Pip walked off the ship, and headed over to the cart.

“Cap’n, do ya have anything else for me tonight?” Joe asked as they walked towards the cart. Pip was trotting behind his father, a miniature version of the earth Pony Stallion.

“I can handle the rest, Joe. Go spend some time with your family, “ Rhumbline told his deckhoof. “Make sure you are back early, We will be leaving at first light.”

“Aye, Cap’n” Joe replied, giving the blue stallion a quick salute, which his son mimicked. Autumn watched the pair trot off, Joe moving slowly so Pip could keep pace. In a way, Autumn felt bad for the Pinto patterned Stallion. His family made a comfortable living between Joe’s and Estella’s income, a much better life than they had in Trottingham. But, that whole existence was dependant on the success of Rhumbline’s Airship. The Dodo’s busy schedule kept Joe away from his family. Estella frequently talked to Autumn on how much strain Joe’s absences were putting on his family.

“So, I owe you 240 bits, right? 60 bits a case for 4 cases.” Rhumbline said as he reached back to the pocket of his workbelt.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac replied. “Sorry we didn’t have more for you, but we need the rest for winter.”

“That’s alright, Big Mac, I appreciate what you brought.” Rhumbline said as he counted out the coins. “I understand you need to keep the town fed over the winter.”

“The harvest was good this year. Ah’m glad to have a market for the extra preserves we made.” Applejack said, looking at the coins, and putting them in her coin purse.

“There are not a lot of apple orchards where we are going, so I should be able to use it for trade.” Rhumbline chatted, putting his coin purse, now significantly lighter, back into his work belt. “And if worse come to worse, I can use it to feed my crew. Thanks again for helping me out.”

“You’re welcome,” Applejack said, helping her brother with the cart’s straps. “Have a safe trip.”

Autumn stood next to Rhumbline as they watched the two ponies from the Apple Clan head back towards town. Autumn felt the odd combination of warm body and cold sweat as Rhumbline sidled up next to her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t spend more time with you, Autumn,” Rhumbline said, his deep voice barely over a whisper. “There was just so much I needed to get done before we left.”

“I understand, dear. I expected it after Perseus stopped by looking for you.” Autumn replied, leaning against her head against her husbands neck. “Where’s Palette?”

“She’s down in the hold, helping Kayleigh batten the cargo.” Rhumbline murmured, cradling Autumn’s head under his jaw. His breath tickled her ear, which flicked involuntarily. “You know your sister is probably on the Fo’c’sle watching us.”

“She’s an adult.” Autumn whispered. She really didn’t care what her sister thought about this. Opportunities for intimacy with her husband were rare, and she took advantage of every opportunity. Autumn leaned heavily into Rhumbline, resting her flank and swollen belly against him. Her foal rewarded her husbands presence with a kick, and Rhumbline’s intake of breath in response made Autumn smile. The two ponies stood in this position for several minutes, silently enjoying each others company.

“I need to go back aboard, to check on the passengers and finish diner,” Rhumbline said quietly, gently extracting himself from their closeness. Autumn stopped leaning on her husband, and turned to face him.

“Did you invite Winter?” Autumn asked after she nuzzled with Rhumbline.

“I did, but she wasn’t interested,” The blue stallion replied as he and Autumn walked towards the gangplank.

“I’ll talk to her,” Autumn replied as the ponies reached the top of the gang plank. Rhumbline looked at her with his green eyes, nodded, and turned to enter the pilothouse.

Autumn walked forward towards the Fo’c’sle, looking around the ship as she walked. The work her husband’s crew had done was amazing. Every cable connecting the airships hull to the balloon had been replaced. The balloon’s painted designs, which contained the magical enchantments that helped lift the airship, had all been touched up. Down in the cargo hold, where Kayleigh and her daughter were still tying down crates, metal tanks were stacked along the back wall. These tanks filled a third of the cargo hold, and makeshift piping ran from the tanks to the hatch in the aft wall of the hold.

“Autumn.” Winter said as Autumn reached the bow of the ship, giving her sister a curt nod. Instead of her royal guards uniform, the grey pegasus mare wore a wool lined canvas flight suit. Winter had bound up her blue streaked white mane and tail in tight braids.

“Winter,” Autumn said, walking up next to her sister. They both turned to look towards Ponyville. The sun has nearly set, and the clouds in the sky were ablaze in reds and yellows. “Will you please join us for dinner? Rhumbline doesn’t bite.”

“Thanks for the offer, but no,” Winter said calmly, looking at the sky, “This dinner is about you and your family. Having me there would be... awkward.”

“You are a part of my family, Winter” Autumn said.

“But Rhumbline is not part of mine,” Winter replied, the chill in her voice matching the air. “I can not forgive him for what he did to you.”

“Palette was not something ‘done’ to me,” Autumn snapped. “He did not force himself on me. We were- are in love.”

“Had Rhumbline minded his duty, instead of pursuing you like a rutting stallion, you would still be in the guard.” Autumn growled. “You could have been Guard Captain. Now you are living in a small one room apartment trying to make ends meet by selling curios.”

“Have you ever considered the possibility that I am happy the way things are?” Autumn argued. “I have a hard enough time with Rhumbline feeling guilty about how things turned out without you adding to it.”

“If he feels so guilty, why did he quit the airship corps and put all of his money into this wreck?” Winter said, motioning to the Dodo with her hoof. “You at least had a comfortable life while he was still in the service of the Princess.”

“Don’t you dare call the Dodo a wreck!” Autumn snapped. She gave up on trying to control her emotions. She had poured 3 months of her life helping Rhumbline make the Dodo airworthy, and she felt a strong connection to the old airship. “I was the one who talked him into leaving the service. He was never around, and the separation was making him miserable. I couldn’t ask him to give up flying, so I suggested we go into the airship business. We might be struggling to get by, but we are happy.”

“You talked him into quitting the airship corps?” Winter asked, her voice relaxing a bit.

“Yes.” Autumn answered, lowering the tone of her voice. “You know, he joined the Airship service as a colt, serving with his mother as a cabinpony until he was old enough to get his commission. He didn’t quit, he retired with a pension.”

“He retired?” The anger that had been building in Winter’s voice has dissipated. This was a conversation that Autumn had wished she could have had with her sister long ago, but Winter had avoided Autumn so effectively after she became pregnant, left the guard, and married Rhumbline that she had only talked to to her sister a few times in the past five years.

“He retired.” Autumn answered, forcing calm into her voice. “He is not a young Stallion, Winter. He was serving the Princess before you were born. I know father would have preferred if I had married a refined pegasus stallion instead of Rhumbline, but he is a good pony, and you are more open minded than father is.”

Winter stood silently for a few minutes, looking at the darkening sky. “Rhumbline and I have a lot of bad history together, Autumn. I really don’t think he likes me very much.”

“Winter, Rhumbline doesn’t hate you,” Autumn said firmly. “He doesn’t hate anypony. He never knew how to deal with how you felt about him. So he did the only thing he could think of, treat you professionally and avoid the personal issues. I know he seemed cold and domineering to you, but that is the way he is on his ship. Please, come down to dinner with us.”

“No, Autumn. This is a special time for you to be with your husband before he leaves.” Winter replied. “I will only spoil it for you. I appreciate what you are trying to do, but don’t worry about me. This is your time with you husband... I’ll have several weeks with him.”

“Fine.” Autumn sighed, shaking her head. Her sister was as stubborn as ever. Autumn had hoped to have some time to talk with her in a family setting, but at least this conversation didn’t end in yelling. “I’ll make sure to save some food for you. Rhumbline is making his barley and carrot stew. You should try it, even if you don’t eat it with us.”

“I will,” Winter replied as Autumn turned to walk towards the pilothouse.

“So you have actually been to all these places?” Twilight Sparkle asked, pointing to the large world map that occupied the whole back wall of the cramped mess. The map was pricked by many pins, most in and around Equestria, but some other pins in more remote places.

“It’s where the Dodo had been,” Rhumbline replied warmly, pushing his empty bowl away from him. “If I marked all the places I have been on a map, all you would see is pins.”

It was an exaggeration, though not much of one. Rhumbline’s mother was a pioneer of Airship navigation, and traveled much of the world, mapping airship routes and landing sites in the name of Princess Celestia. While her exploring days were largely over before Rhumbline was born, she had taken every opportunity to show her child the exotic places of the world. Rhumbline frequently awed his daughter with stories from his childhood on the nights that he was home.

“The Captain has some great stories.” Kayleigh added as she pushed her unruly mane out of her eyes. Kayleigh was less unkempt than she normally was, but her mane was badly in need of a cut, and a hairbrush. “Tell them about the time that you were stuck out over the ocean when that big storm came up.”

“I haven’t heard that one.” Palette said, looking up from her bowl, her blue eyes wide with excitement.

“And you won’t tonight, little filly.” Rhumbline said, patting his daughter on her head. “You’re a little too young for that story, and I don’t want to scare my passengers.”

“Scare me?” Spike quipped, munching on a small topaz gem. Autumn was surprised by how much food the little dragon had eaten. He had devoured a bowl and a half of the stew, and he was still hungry. “We don’t scare easy. I’m sure it wasn’t any more scary that an Ursa Minor.”

“Maybe it involved zombies?” the purple unicorn replied, grinning as she levitated her bowl to the sink in the galley.

“Zombies?” Autumn asked, pushing away her half eaten bowl of stew. It was really good as always, but she was feeling a bit nauseus. “I am pretty familiar with the dangerous creatures in and around Equestria, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about Zombies.”

“It’s an inside joke.” Spike replied, rolling his eyes at Twilight Sparkle.

“Well, it’s probably not a good idea for me tell a story about rough weather when we are planning to travel outside the pony lands during the winter.” Rhumbline continued, Looking at Twilight and Spike. “Did you store all your things in the drawers in the cabin? There is a lot of turbulence this time of year, especially at the altitude we will be flying.”

“We did, but you really didn’t need to put us up in your cabin,” Twilight replied

“It’s the only cabin on board even remotely suitable for passengers,” Rhumbline answered, shifting into his command voice. Rhumbline never yelled at anyone, but he had a voice that demanded attention. “I assure you, it’s not an imposition.”

“He hardly uses it anyway,” Kayleigh said, leaning over towards Twilight, as to whisper in her ear. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sleep when the airship is flying.”

“Kayleigh, you are in the engine room so much I could get a full night’s sleep, and you wouldn’t know it,” Rhumbline joked, grinning at his engineer. “ But you are right, I only really use the cabin when we are not flying.”

“But won’t we be flying for many days? Where will you sleep?” Twilight sparkle asked, a look of concern coming over her face.

“I have a comfortable cushion on the bridge,” Rhumbline answered, matter-of-factly. “When Joe or Kayleigh are on the helm, and things are quiet, I’ll probably drift off for a nap.”

“Where are you going daddy?” Palette asked. She had been avidly listening to the conversation.

“Across the Sunrise ocean to the eastern continent,” Rhumbline answered.

“But where? That’s a big place,” Palette replied. She was intensely curious on where her father went. Autumn figured it was Palettes way to get over the separation anxiety that she felt every time her father left.

“He’s taking me on a secret mission, so he can’t tell you Palette,” Twilight Sparkle said, looking the filly.

“A super secret royal librarian mission?” Palette asked, looking the the purple unicorn and arching her eyebrows. Of the three ponies in Autumn’s family, Palette was the one Ponyville’s librarian knew best. She went to the library at least once a week, looking for interesting books to read and draw pictures about.

“Yes, straight from Princess Celestia,” The Purple unicorn answered, giving Autumn’s daughter a smile. “So secret that we can’t tell anypony where we are going.”

“Really?” Palette asked, her voice rising in excitement. She turned her blue eyes towards her father, looking for confirmation.

“Really,” Rhumbline answered, giving a thankful look to Twilight Sparkle. Rhumbline never lied to his daughter, and Autumn knew that he couldn’t say what his destination was. She had already tried to extract that information from him this morning, when he first stopped by at home. “It’s just like some of the diplomatic missions I flew when I was Captain of the Sandpiper.”

“Wow,” Palette replied, resting her chin on her hooves, and getting the distant look in her eyes she got when she was imagining something.

“Hey, Palette? Spike? Do you two want to see the modifications I made to the Airships engine?” Kayleigh said, pushing back from the table.

“Sure,” the brown filly and purple dragon said in unison. Twilight Sparkle stood to let her companion away from the table, and Kayleigh lead Palette and Spike away from the mess hall, towards the stairs leading down to the engine room.

“You planned this?” Autumn asked her husband.

“Yes. I figured we would need some adult time to talk,” The blue stallion replied. “It’s a shame Winter didn’t join us, but I’ll brief her later. Twilight, this is not going to be the pleasure cruise that your trips on the Royal airship were.”

“I understand that,” Twilight replied quickly.

“I don’t think you do,” Rhumbline interjected. “There is a reason airships do not fly to the golden coast. The shortest route is over the Dragon steppes, and through the Griffin mountains. I’ve navigated both the last time I made this trip, twenty years ago.

“There are many flying creatures that live in the dragon steppes that will likely investigate an airship flying over,” Rhumbline continued. “The Dodo is a fast ship, but she’s not fast enough to avoid encounters. So, I am going to improvise. I am going to find a storm moving east across the eastern continent, and hide in it.”

“You’re going to fly in a storm?!” Autumn exclaimed, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. Airships were remarkable pieces of unicorn engineering, but they were fragile. A strong storm could knock an airship out of the sky. Over the pony lands, where the Pegasi regulate the weather, these storms were rare. However, on the eastern continent, with no weather control, violent weather was much more common.

“Yes,” Rhumbline said solemnly. “Its a calculated risk that I can prepare for. The storm will keep the various creatures I am worried about out of the air. I’ve reinforced some of the more fragile parts of the airship to take the extra strain, and Winter’s knowledge and my experience should keep the Dodo out of the worst of the storm.”

“The other problem we face is getting through the Griffin mountains. Most of the passes are too narrow to safely fly an airship through. There is only one pass navigable by an airship,” Rhumbline continued, pointing to a spot on the map behind him. “I navigated this the last time I made the trip, but I did it in a smaller and much more nimble airship. I am confident I can navigate the valley with the Dodo, but I can’t do it in a storm, or in the dark. This means I will need to start navigating the pass in the morning, or we will have to wait until the next day.”

“And this will leave us exposed to whatever is out there that may want to bother us while we are waiting for our opportunity to cross,” Twilight Sparkle reasoned calmly.

“Yes. That will most likely be Griffins. They have aeries all up and down the Griffin mountain range, hence the name,” Rhumbline replied.

“Griffins? I didn’t think they were still hostile to ponykind anymore,” Twilight interjected.

“Only around Equestria,” Autumn answered. “I’ve known a couple of Griffins, and they talk about Aeries on other continents where the bands still raid each other and other cultures. The griffins around Equestria are only as friendly as they are because they have much more to gain by trade than by warfare.”

“I don’t expect there to be problems, but it is important that we are prepared,” Rhumbline said.

“What will we do if the griffins cause problems?” Twilight asked.

“We have Princess Celestia’s personal student onboard,” Rhumbline replied, giving the purple unicorn a grin, “I’m certain that will give us plenty of options.”

Autumn walked slowly beside her husband on the path back to Ponyville. The stars were fully out, and the moon peeked around the scattered clouds to illuminated the path. Rhumbline walked slowly, with a grace that he developed from his decades working on the shifting decks of airships, taking care not to wake his daughter, who was draped over his back.

It had been a long, cold walk back from the airship. Autumn’s coat itched from the wool saddle blanket Rhumbline gave her to fight the nighttime chill. Autumn ruffled her wings, trying to relieve the discomfort without knocking off the blanket.

There was so much she wanted to talk to her husband about, so many concerns that weighed on her. But these were not words for her daughter to hear, so their walk had been passed with small talk about what they did while Rhumbline was gone, and him talking about his last voyage.

Autumn reached over and adjusted the rough spun wool blanket on her daughter. Palette’s slow even breathing created small puffs of steam with each breath. Autumn was pretty sure her daughter was asleep.

“Rhumbline, “ Autumn said quietly, not to disturb her daughter, “I have a really bad feeling about this trip. It really has me worried”

“Me too, dear,” Rhumbline replied quietly. “I’m not going to lie to you, Autumn. This trip has me scared.”

Autumn’s heart sank. She had hoped that her concerns were just hers, an effect of her being emotional from the pregnancy. Her husband was always so confident about his voyages, to hear him voice his concerns was almost too much to bear.

“Why?” She asked, her voice barely audible.

“I am not my Mother, and the Dodo is not the Sandpiper,” Rhumbline replied quietly, looking down at the path through town. “My mother was in command twenty years ago, and she made sure I learned the route. But the voyage was made in the Sandpiper, which my mother had purpose built for that voyage. If I was still in command of her, I wouldn’t have any doubts, but the Sandpiper is no longer mine... I’ve done what I could with the Dodo, I’m afraid that I am not up to this challenge.”

“Perseus made it sound like this was a request from the Princess. Why did you accept if you were so uncertain? ” Autumn asked, the tightness in her chest growing.

“Duty,” Rhumbline replied. “Duty, and a promise.”

Autumn stayed silent. She understood where he was coming from. She had been out of the royal guard for 5 years, but she would still jump to protect the Princess should the call come. But this knowledge didn’t make her feel any better. Her husband was taking a great risk, for a reason that Autumn didn’t know.

Autumn fought the emotions welling up inside her. It would not do her husband any good to see Autumn upset. She needed to be strong for him. He needed to be able to focus. The more that Rhumbline worried about her, about their financial difficulties, about Autumn’s loneliness, the more distracted he would be.

I will just need to deal with my concerns on my own. Autumn thought.

They arrived at the door to their shop, and Autumn opened it for her husband. Rhumbline motioned to the lamp, and he walked carefully through the darkened store to the stairs in the back. Autumn went to the counter, and lit the oil lamp resting there. After a few minutes, Rhumbline came back down the stairs.

“Palette still asleep?” Autumn whispered. Rhumbline nodded, and walked over to Autumn, sitting next to her on a cushion near the shops counter.

“Rhumbline, why are you scared?” Autumn asked, leaning against her husband, trying to sooth his fears with her presence. She needed to be as supportive and reassuring as possible.“You are the best Airship captain I know, and the Dodo is as airworthy as she ever has been.”

“She’s a good airship,” Rhumbline murmured, hanging his head, “and she will take me where ever I tell her. I am just afraid I am not up to the task. I have four ponies and a dragon depending on me, and I have so many doubts.”

“We all have doubts, dear,” Autumn replied, trying to sound certain for her husband. She had to be strong for him now. He was outwardly confident, yet he had many insecurities about his choices, and about the future. “What matters is what you do about them. You’ve taken those doubts, and made a plan to work around them. A good plan, better than many ponies would have come up with. Most ponies would have said that the task was impossible.”

“But what if I am wrong? What if I’ve missed something?” Rhumbline replied quietly.

“Then you will adapt, like you always do,” Autumn cooed soothingly, rubbing her mane into her husband’s neck. “You have all your experience, and four ponies and a dragon to help you. You’ll make things work out.”

“Maybe this time, but what about our future?” Rhumbline said, reaching back into his work belt for his coin purse. He placed it on the floor infront of them. It looked nearly empty. “The repairs on the Dodo were expensive, as was the extra fuel and provisions. This is all I have left from the last cargo, and the money I got to take this voyage. And I am leaving you with nothing to sell in the store. I’m staking our whole future on this duty, on the off chance I can find somepony to trade with at the end of my journey.”

“We’ll be fine Rhumbline,” Autumn said, trying to sound as confident as possible. “I still have some bits left from the last load of merchandise, and with this, we can make it until you get back. There are plenty of odd jobs to be had in this town, so we can always do something to get by.”

“I don’t want you to have to live that way, Autumn. I want you to be happy,” Rhumbline whispered.

“Rhumbline, As long as we are together, I’ll be happy,” Autumn cooed, rubbing her forehoof along Rhumbline’s. “How long until you need to head back?”

“Kayleigh should be able to take care of the passengers for a little while,” Rhumbline answered, burying his snout into Autumns mane, and inhaling deeply.

“Then let’s make use of the time we have.” Autumn replied, tilting her head up to kiss her husband.

Chapter 5: Kayleigh

The Ties that Bind

By Birdco
Pre-read by : Rokas, Blayaden, Yoshimon1, AlexKadin, Brambo96

“What is the difference between courage and foolhardiness? Fear. The brave know what to fear, and that knowledge makes them stronger. The foolhardy do not fear the hazards they face, and that puts both them and others in danger.

It took a soldier everypony thought was a coward to show me how little I knew of courage.”

-General Hurricane, writing about Private Pansy in his memoirs.

Chapter 5: Kayleigh

Kayleigh jolted awake as her hammock swung and hit the engine room bulkhead. She heard a dull thud as the book she had been reading earlier hit the deck.

That was a good one. Kayleigh thought as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but reading about enchantment spell structures was about as exciting as scraping grease, and she was exhausted.

Kayleigh shoved her purple bangs out of her eyes with a yellow hoof, and looked over at the engineering instrument panel.

Service tank fuel level, check.

Main engine power level, 40%, normal enough.

Electrical reactor output, 5 kilowatts and stable, good.

Levitation reactor...

“Shoot, that’s high. We must be icing up again,” Kayleigh said to nopony in particular as she rolled out of her hammock to her hooves. She levitated the wool jacket off the peg in the corner, and struggled into it.

She was glad she talked Rhumbline into paying for the modifications to the levitation reactor. Reactors were fairly simple magical devices that converted chemical energy into magical energy through a gem with a catalytic enchantment. This magic could then be used to power another enchanted device. Normally, the reactor took alcohol and air, and generated magical energy, water, exhaust gas, and a little heat.

The lift needed to keep the Dodo in the air came from two sources; a combustible, lighter than air gas that alchemists call phlogiston, and the levitation enchantment on the balloon. The balloon enchantment is powered by the levitation reactor, and can be a big drain on fuel when the airship is trying to fly at altitude with a heavy load. Increasing the concentration of phlogiston in the balloon can also increase the lift, but the balloon fabric leaks the phlogiston gas above a certain concentration.

Kayleigh’s idea, which was implemented by the artificers at Canterlot’s shipyard, was to change the catalytic enchantment on the levitation reactor to produce phlogiston as a by-product of the magical reaction. An addition of a magical filter, and some piping directing the gas to the balloon, and now she could maintain a higher concentration of phlogiston in the balloon, and could operate at high altitude using less fuel.

However, the high altitude in the storm brought a different problem, ice. While ice won’t accumulate on the balloon due to the levitation enchantment, the hull had no such protection. During their first night in this storm, ice had accumulated so quickly that the Dodo almost fell from the sky before Kayleigh could clear it off the bow. She’s been watching the levitation reactor’s output closely over the past three days to catch the icing before it got too bad.

Kayleigh looked quickly in the mirror she had hung on the bulkhead next to her hammock. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, but at least her hair looked a lot neater than normal. She had spent much of the last evening helping Winter Gale recover from a recon flight that left the gray pegasus severely chilled and suffering from cramps. It took an hour to fire up the hot water system in the head, but the hot bath was exactly what Winter needed. Later, after an icebreaking trip onto the weatherdeck, Kayleigh took advantage of the still lukewarm water to warm up, and wash her purple mane. Hot water was such a rarity when the ship was underway that she couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

The engineer donned her welding goggles, pushing them onto her forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes. She levitated her hammer from the pipe where it hung, and slipped it into the holster she sewed onto her workbelt. Rhumbline might not like her carrying the stone weight hammer around on the airship, but it was the tool she needed for this job. She trotted up the stairs that lead up to crew quarters, and began preparing herself for another trip onto the weatherdeck.

Kayleigh peered into the room that she and Winter Gale would have been sharing, if the weather hadn’t demanded that the ship’s engineer slept in the engine room. The guardpony was not in her rack, where by all rights she should still be, considering how exhausted she was last night.

Out on another scouting flight, Kayleigh thought as she continued towards the hatch leading to the deck. I hope that she will be alright.

Kayleigh was trying to watch out for the guardpony. Winter Gale did not have anypony she knew onboard... other than the captain. Rhumbline treated his sister-in-law with respect, their discussions were strictly about her duties. While the captain was firmly focused on flying the airship when Dodo was in the air, he still occasionally talked about personal subjects with his crew to pass the time. There was none of this interaction between Winter and him, and she had been going to great lengths to avoid the captain whenever her duties allowed it.

Kayleigh tried to pry into the details of their relationship last night while she was drying and trying to braid Winter’s mane. It took some gentle prodding, but the pegasus gradually opened up about herself, and her service as a guard. She even talked about her previous assignments with Rhumbline when he was in the airship service. However, Winter avoided any discussion about her feelings about the captain. Finally, when Kayleigh couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore, and bluntly asked the guards feelings for the captain, Winter replied that ‘it was an inappropriate topic of conversation with one of Rhumbline’s subordinates.’

This only fueled the unicorns interest even more. She felt that, of anypony onboard, she knew the most about the captain. As a foal, Kayleigh marveled at the stories Rhumbline shared when her father would invite him for dinner. However, after she left home and joined the crew of the Dodo, she had expected the captain to be the kindly relative she had experienced in the past. Instead, she found a stern, serious stallion who was distant when the ship was in the air, even to Autumn and Palette, who crewed the Dodo on the first few voyages. Now, there is another aspect about the captain she knew very little about.

Kayleigh arrived at the hatch and took a deep breath. She needed to get her mind on the task at hand. She focused on the motion of the airship beneath her hooves, trying to get a feeling for the Dodo’s rhythm as she rode the winds. Her horn lit as she levitated the safety hook from her work belt, and she used her forehoof to turn the latch on the hatch.

Her first breath of the thin, frigid air stung her nostrils, and Kayleigh’s chest tightened from the sudden change in temperature. She quickly latched the safety hook to the line that ran from the pilothouse to the Fo’c’sle, a line Rhumbline helped her set up on the first day of the voyage. The morning light was muted by the dense cloud bank that the Dodo was sailing in, but Kayleigh could still make out the glint of the ice veneer that coated the deck.

Kayleigh shut the hatch behind her, and took a few tentative steps out onto the deck. The wind rushing over the deck whipped her mane, and rapidly chilled the exposed areas of her hide. She scraped at the deck with her hoof, creating a furrow in ice.

“That is not too bad.” Kayleigh said to herself. The deck ice was not much thicker than the last time she was in deck. This meant that the ice build up was on the bow, which she could deal with herself. She didn’t want to have to bring Twilight Sparkle out here if she didn’t need to, because the purple unicorn needed to conserve her strength.

Kayleigh trod carefully over the slick deck, being sure of her footing before taking the next step. She didn’t think badly of Twilight for being as airsick as she was. Kayleigh was feeling nauseous herself, and she had a lot more time on an airship.

Between steps, the engineer gazed up at the balloon, checking the connection points for wear, and looking for tears. The new steel stay cables Rhumbline had installed prior to the voyage sang in the wind. They were much stronger than the old hemp cables, but they could wear through the magic reinforced fabric of the balloon in prolonged turbulence if there is any slack in one of the cables.

It took Kayleigh a couple of minutes to cover the hundred hoof distance to the bow of the airship. The unicorn had started shivering under the heavy wool jacket, and her hooves and snout were starting to get numb. It was brutally cold at the 10000 hoof altitude the Dodo was flying, and if it wasn’t for the ice, nopony would venture outside the relative warmth of the interior of the ship. She slipped her welding goggles over her eyes, and peered over the bow.

The crystaline glint all along the stem of the airship confirmed Kayleigh’s concerns. There was at least 2 inches of ice. Using her telekinesis, the unicorn grabbed her hammer, levitated it over the edge of the bow, and started removing the ice with strong, methodical strokes. The frigid wind on her face tempted her to work fast, but she knew one misplaced stroke or a lapse of concentration could damage the hull, or cause her to drop the hammer.

The last thing Kayleigh wanted to do was drop the hammer. She had found it in a chest of her grandfather’s things when she was a young filly. Her grandfather was an airship engine designer, and the chest was full of books, and drawings about airship engines, and tools, lots of tools. Her father, Leyline, had made a deal with her. If she could lift the hammer out of the chest with telekinesis, she could have everything inside it. It took her several months of trying, but she finally succeeded.

By the time Kayleigh finished with the ice, she was chilled to the bone, and her nose was running. She quickly holstered her hammer, and worked her way aft as fast as she could. She had made it halfway back to the deckhouse when she felt the ship’s motion suddenly change.

Kayleigh clamped her teeth around the safety line just as she felt her weight leave her hooves. The momentary weightlessness instantly shifted to a heavy impact as the ships deck came back up to meet her. Her left foreleg buckled, and she slammed side first into the icy deck.

Kayleigh hung on to the safety line for dear life, gasping for breath. She had fallen on her hammer, and the impact had knocked the wind out of her. The pain from her leg brought tears to her eyes. She laid there for several moments, holding tightly to the line, too scared to move.

“Kayleigh, are you alright?” Rhumbline’s voice boomed over the megaphone on the bridge. “Stay there, I’ll come out to get you.”

Kayleigh tried to wave him off. She didn’t want her captain to risk himself coming to save her. She didn’t need saving, she could take care of herself.

She rolled onto her hooves, and gingerly stood up, keeping her weight off her left foreleg. She felt lightheaded from her shortness of breath, but she persisted. She gingerly tested her left foreleg. It hurt, but it wasn’t a sharp pain, and Kayleigh felt she could put weight on it without further injury.

“Kayleigh, I told you to stay still.” Rhumbline yelled against the wind as he left the pilothouse. The blue stallion moved quickly and confidently along the slick deck, his graying blue mane whipped by the wind. He wore none of the safety equipment that Kayleigh had on.

“Captain, it’s dangerous.” Kayleigh tried to call back, but it came out as more of a wheeze than a yell. She limped towards the pilot house, trying to show her captain she didn’t need help. Rhumbline was undeterred, and moved swiftly to her side. He positioned himself to help her keep weight off her hoof.

“I know what I’m doing, Kayleigh,” Rhumbline said calmly. “Don’t rush. Everything is going to be fine.”

Kayleigh leaned lightly on Rhumbline as she took a couple of initial steps towards the pilothouse. She was afraid to put too much of her weight on the stallion, in fear of upsetting his foothold on the icy deck.

She inhaled sharply as she felt another shift in the airships motion. Rhumbline leaned into her as the airship bucked to the side, which gave her the extra support she needed to keep from falling to the deck.

“How do you do that?” Kayleigh gasped as she quickened her pace, ignoring the pain that it brought her. The stallion’s support made the going easier. It wasn’t just his physical support, having the captain there helped control her fear.

“I’ve lived my whole life on airships,” Rhumbline said. He shifted his position to help Kayleigh up the stairs that lead to the bridge. As they reached the top, the door was pushed open by Spike

“Are you allright, Kayleigh?” Joe called from the helm as the two ponies entered the bridge. “You plum near got bucked off the ship.”

“Is there anything I can do to help” Spike asked, pulling the hatch shut behind Rhumbline.

“Grab my cushion, and put it over by the heating stone.” Rhumbline replied, guiding Kayleigh towards the heater behind the ship’s helm.

She started shivering. She tried to stop herself, but she couldn’t control it. Kayleigh had been on Rhumbline’s airship for close to ten months, and this was the scariest thing that had ever happened to her.

I could have fallen off the ship, she thought as tears welled up in her eyes.

“You’ll be fine, Kamelia” Rhumbline whispered in her ear, in the warm, friendly voice she remembered from her earliest childhood. “You did the right thing and buckled yourself into the safety line. That kept you safe.”

“But you had to come out and rescue me,” Kayleigh replied, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“That was my choice, Kamelia,” Rhumbline replied warmly, helping Kayleigh ease herself onto the cushion. She looked up at him, and the blue stallion met her gaze with his sunken, bloodshot eyes. Kayleigh knew that he hadn’t been sleeping, He hardly ever sleeps when the Dodo is in the air, but she hadn’t noticed how tired and old he looked.

“Spike.” Rhumbline said to the baby dragon, shifting back to his normal shipboard tone of voice. “Please help Kayleigh out of her jacket.”

“You got it captain!” Spike replied, as Rhumbline grabbed the kettle from the top of the heater stone, and carried it over to the chart table.

Spike deftly unbuttoned the jacket with his dexterous claws, and assisted Kayleigh as she squirmed to get out of the warm, itchy cloth.

“Are you alright?” The dragon asked as he folded up the jacket.

“I’ll be ok. I’m just a little scared,” Kayleigh replied, rubbing away the tears with a foreleg. she was starting to calm down and warm up, and her shivering had subsided.

“You were limping when you came in.” Spike replied flatly.

“I just tweaked my leg.” Kayleigh replied quickly. Her fetlock still throbbed, but there wasn’t any sharp pain, so she didn’t think anything was broken.

Rhumbline came over from the chart table, and set a steaming mug on the deck in front of Kayleigh. “We need to get your leg checked out. Spike, how is Miss Sparkle doing this morning?”

“She’s awake, but she still hasn’t been able to eat anything solid.” Spike replied. Twilight Sparkle had been sickened by the combination of the altitude and the ship’s motion soon after entering the storm. She had tried to carry on with her duties, but she was looking so weak that the Captain had ordered her to bed.

“Would you ask her if she feels well enough to come to the bridge,” Rhumbline said to Spike as he walked back to the chart table. “I want her to check out Kayleigh’s leg, and Winter should be back from her recon flight shortly.”

“I’m pretty sure she will come up here, no matter how she feels.” Spike replied. He walked to the stair in the port aft corner of the bridge that lead to the Captain’s private cabin. Silence fell over the bridge as the Captain went back to studying the chart, and looking at the crystal bezel of the tracker compass.

The tracker compass was an invention of Rhumbline’s mother, Starline, and worked much like a magical navigational compass. It gave the direction and range to a enchanted gem that Winter was wearing on her flight suit. Rhumbline had been using it to navigate in the overcast skies of the storm by sending Winter to terrain features in the Dragon steppes, and using the direction and range to fix the position of the airship.

Kayleigh admired Winter for the job she was doing scouting for the Dodo. She had been flying nearly twelve hours a day for three days straight; in horrible, bone chilling weather. She started before dawn, and ended well after dark. She did this without question and complaint, and she helped guide the Dodo to the safest areas of the storm they were flying across the Steppes in.

“I’m really sorry about that, Kayleigh.” Joe said, breaking the silence. He looked as nervous as she had ever seen him at the helm of the Dodo. Even after eight months on the crew, Joe was still uneasy while the Dodo was in the air. Normally, he felt most at ease when he was at the helm, when, as he put it, he held his destiny in his own hooves. However, the storm had tested his resolve, and Kayleigh had taken time talking with him when he was off duty to keep up his spirits.

“Blame the storm, Joe. Last time I checked, you can’t see the wind.” Kayleigh said, then took a sip of the warm beverage Rhumbline had offered her. Her face screwed up at the grainy taste, and she stuck out her tongue. “Barley tea, Rhumbline? You know I hate this stuff.”

“It was hot, and it’s available,” Rhumbline said past the pencil he had clenched in his teeth. He was drawing another line on the heavily marked chart, and glancing back at the tracking compass. “Joe, come port one point and bring up the power up to standard cruise, we are going to pick up Winter.”

“Aye Cap’n” Joe replied, turning the ship’s wheel to the left, and moving forward the lever on the side of the helm stand. Kayleigh felt the thrumming of the ship’s main engine respond to the command, and was satisfied that the engine was behaving as it should.

“Cap’n, aren’t we getting awfully close to the mountain range?” Joe asked. The brown and white stallion was still not as good a navigator as the captain, but his skill had greatly improved under Rhumbline’s tutelage. If Joe was worried enough to voice his concerns, Kayleigh knew that he was getting really nervous.

“We are, but we need to bring Winter aboard before we leave the storm, or she will have a hard time getting back aboard.” Rhumbline replied, and turned to Kayleigh. “Is the engine ready for a full power run?”

“As ready as she ever has been, Captain” Kayleigh replied, “Though I will want to be in the engine room for it.”

“Are we almost at the pass?” Twilight asked as she came up from the captain’s cabin. Her mane was matted, and her stride up the steps was slow, and shaky. She was followed by Spike, who closely watched over the lavender pony.

Rhumbline nodded. “You look wonderful this morning. Are you sure you are up to this?”

“I’ve been in that cabin too long,” Twilight grumbled, “Of course I am up to it.”

She walked gingerly over to Kayleigh. Twilight looked like a pony that had been throwing up her guts for the last three days, and the engineer was amazed she was even standing.

“The ginger root didn’t help?” Kayleigh asked. Rhumbline had introduced her to the root on her first voyage on the Dodo, when she was airsick. It really helped control the nausea, and she still used it when the ship’s motion bothered her. She had given what remained of her stash to Twilight yesterday, in hopes that it would help her recover.

“It helped a little. I’ve been able to keep down water and thin oatmeal.” Twilight replied as she sat down next to Kayleigh. The lavender unicorn examined Kayleigh’s left foreleg, gently prodding it with her hoof. She then closed her eyes, and her horn glowed with a purple radiance.

“As far as I can tell, nothing is broken or torn,” Twilight said as she opened her eyes, “I’m not particularly skilled in medical diagnostic spells, but nothing looks badly injured. I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain.”

“That’s good to hear,” Rhumbline said as he yawned and blinked his eyes. He had poured two more mugs of barley tea, and he took a sip from one of them.

Spike took an elastic bandage from the first aid kit on the bridge, and began wrapping it around Kayleigh’s fetlock. Kayleigh was very familiar with that first aid kit, since she normally played nurse on their voyages. Luckily, the worst injury she had had to deal with was splinters from the aging wood deck. The little purple dragon worked quickly, and while the wrap was sloppy, the compression helped soothe the pain in Kayleigh’s fetlock joint.

“Spike, when you finish up with that, grab the wool blankets from the chest in my cabin. Winter should arrive in a few minutes, and we’ll need to warm her up.” Rhumbline asked. The captain had been making good use of Spike on the voyage, keeping the little dragon busy. During the first day of the voyage, Spike had been very apprehensive, but Rhumbline made it a point to involve him in everything he could, and that seemed to make Spike forget the concerns that he had.

“You got it.” Spike said, and he headed back down the stairs.

“Twilight, we should clear the storm, and arrive at the mouth of the pass in a few hours.” Rhumbline stated as he motioned to Twilight to come over to the chart table. Kayleigh eased herself up to join them, gingerly testing her leg as she walked.

“It will be too late to navigate the pass, so we will be spending the night at anchor here.” Rhumbline said as he pointed on the chart to a small enclosed valley near the pass. “It’s a risk, but everypony needs some time to rest. This valley should shelter us from the wind, and hopefully, keep us out of sight of unwanted visitors”

“Kayleigh, Joe, you will be standing guard duty with me tonight,” Rhumbline continued. “Miss Sparkle, I need you to recover your strength. I will call on you if I need you, but I’ll need you as well as possible tomorrow when we are in the confines of the pass.”

“I’ve been sleeping for three days,” Twilight protested, “I should be giving your crew a chance to rest.”

“It’’s not a matter for discussion.” Rhumbline replied sharply, giving the lavender unicorn a serious look. “You are no good to the ship in the condition you are in. You’ve read Mareco Polo’s book, you know what we we can run across out here.”

Twilight looked like she was about to argue that point, but Kayleigh nudged her hard, shaking her head. Rhumbline was a stubborn old colt, especially when it came to how things were run on his ship. Kayleigh knew that Rhumbline was not going to budge an inch from his position.

Twilight seemed to take the hint, and held her tongue, though she did give Rhumbline a disapproving look. Rhumbline did not react to this at all, though Kayleigh was certain he noticed. Instead, he turned and looked out the forward portholes.

“Did I miss something?” Spike asked as he crested the stairs with an armload of wool blankets.

“No,” Twilight retorted curtly, as she continued to frown at the Rhumbline. Spike set down the blankets near the hatch to the outside, and gazed at the lavender unicorn and blue earth pony.

“Joe, I see Winter. Bring the Dodo into the wind.” Rhumbline ordered, never breaking his gaze out of the window.

“Aye, Cap’n” Joe replied, rapidly spinning the ships wheel to the left, and advancing the throttle lever.

“This is about to get rough.” Rhumbline said flatly, walking across the bridge, continuing to look out the window. Kayleigh tried to see what he was looking at, but she saw nothing but clouds and haze.

“Kayleigh, sit down before you get hurt more,” Rhumbline said sharply. The ship’s motion was getting more erratic, and Kayleigh complied. She thought her leg would be all right, but she wasn’t willing to test Rhumbline’s patience. As the Dodo presented her beam to the wind, she started to buck and sway violently. Joe braced himself against the helm, and Twilight and Spike grabbed the chart table. Kayleigh grabbed the mugs of barley tea with telekinesis, and levitated them above the table.

The captain must be tired, she thought, He normally wouldn’t leave the mugs out if he expects turbulence.

Kayleigh looked at the captain with concern. The stallion held his stare out the window, his only reaction to the turbulence was a slightly wider stance. Kayleigh had never seen Rhumbline forget about anything during her time onboard. He was always on top of everything, and was always thinking about what was about to happen. Admittedly, the mugs of tea were a small thing, but what would happen if he forgot something more important?

The Dodo’s motion eased as she put her bow into the wind, and Kayleigh finally caught sight of Winter. She was struggling to make headway against the wind, and her approach to the stern of the airship was agonizingly slow.

“Ease back on the throttle,Joe,” Rhumbline ordered.

“Aye captain... but we’re hardly makin’ any headway against the wind as it is,” Joe replied nervously as he stared at his instruments. He was sweating heavily, even though the bridge was cool.

“We’ll be fine Joe,” Rhumbline replied tersely.

As the airship slowed, Winter’s progress towards the ship accelerated. Rhumbline, Spike, and Twilight gathered at the port weather deck door and Winter alighted on the deck. Kayleigh held back, she would just get in the way, but she did stand up, to be ready to help if needed. Rhumbline pushed open the door, and a burst of frigid air swirled around the bridge.

Winter collapsed through the door, her flanks heaving as she was gasping for breath. Her canvas flight suit, and her braided mane and tail were encrusted with a thin layer of ice. Rhumbline pulled the door shut, and Spike and Twilight began layering the wool blankets over the grey pegasus, who sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath.

“I’m... surprised... you came... this close...” Winter said between gulps of air. Rhumbline walked calmly around her to the chart table.

“Joe, bring the airship up to full power,” Rhumbline ordered calmly. Joe eagerly complied, pushing the throttle forward faster then Kayleigh liked. She felt the Dodo surge beneath her, as the airship’s propellers grabbed the air.

“I don’t think I made it more than ten furlongs from the mountains,” Winter stated as Rhumbline placed the mug of barley tea in front of her. She had regained control of her breathing and composure, though she continued to lay on the floor.

“You only made it six,” Rhumbline replied, looking at the chart.

“Six?!” Joe exclaimed as he broke his focus on the instruments to look at Rhumbline. His eyes were wide with shock. “That was bloody insane, Rhumbline. We canna see more than a few hundred strides, and you took us six furlongs from the mountains, in fifty knot winds!”

Rhumbline shot Joe a dangerous look, and the helmspony immediately shut his mouth and turned to face his instruments. With Rhumbline, there was always a time and place for discussion. Kayleigh had learned early when those times are. Joe, on the other hand, was slower to figure that out. When discussion was welcome, Rhumbline took suggestions, and even criticism well. Other times, Rhumbline would quickly silence any discussion.

However, in the past, he was always polite, stopping the conversation with a ‘not now’, or ‘we’ll discuss this later’. Kayleigh was disturbed by this change in Rhumbline.

“Did you find the griffin’s claw?” Rhumbline asked Winter. She nodded while she downed the mug of barley tea in a few long sips.

“Was it erupting?” Rhumbline continued.

“It was clearly active, since it had no snow cap I could see,” Winter replied as she lowered the mug to the deck. “I did not see an ash or lava, but the visibility precluded any detailed surveillance.”

Rhumbline grunted, looking back at his chart, and at the barometer hanging on the back wall of the bridge. He then turned to Spike and Twilight. “Miss Twilight, Spike. The ride is about to get rough... far rougher than the past several days. I need you to take Winter to the mess room, and strap yourselves in. That will be the safest place for you right now.”

“Kayleigh, help our guests strap in and get to the engine room.” Rhumbline said, looking Kayleigh in the eyes. His voice was hard. “Now is not the time for a break down.”

“Aye Captain” Kayleigh replied quickly. She turned to hurry her charges down the starboard stairs. Kayleigh had known Rhumbline all her life. He had always been kind to her, even during those times when she mucked things up. There was no kindness in his voice now, and this scared her more than the storm did.

Chapter 1: Perseus

The Ties That Bind

By Birdco

"Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other ponies." - Arthur Schopony.

Chapter 1: Perseus

The crisp autumn air rushed past his wings and tussled his cropped mane, which had lost most of its blue color to the gray of age. The chill of the wind was a welcome contrast to the heat of his exertions. Perseus lazily flapped his wings, keeping a steady cadence and getting as much efficiency as possible out of every wing beat.

Perseus seldom had the pleasure of flying without his armor. Command of the Royal Guard brought him innumerable duties. With spot inspections, court appearances, and advising both Princesses on matters of security, along with the daily routine of running the guard, he frequently went from before dawn to long after dusk wearing the uniform of Celestia's personal guard.

The freedom of flying without the encumbering armor almost made him feel young again. It wouldn’t be long before Perseus would be too weak to fly, and he needed to enjoy every opportunity he was presented.

The sky was nearly cloudless, and the cool air allowed clear sight to the distant horizon. Off ahead of him spread the wild green expanse of the Everfree forest and nestled at its edge, the hamlet of Ponyville, his destination for the day.

Perseus glanced over at his traveling companion. Guardspony Gale was not enjoying the scenery nearly as much as he was. Perseus expected this, considering who Princess Celestia had tasked them with finding. The gray mare would not have been his first choice of traveling companion for this mission. Perseus kept a thorough record of every guard’s family and social connections for task like this. It was why he personally took this task. Winter Gale had an even stronger relationship to the subject of their task. It was a connection based on very public loathing, which could only lead to problems.

The Princess was very clear in her instructions, Guardspony Gale was to accompany him in finding Rhumbline, and accompany Rhumbline afterward. One does not question the Princess when she makes decisions such as this. They are fairly rare, and always done for some greater underlying purpose. It would be nice to sometimes know what that purpose was.

Perseus had not told Guardspony Gale her whole role in this task yet. Her reaction to it would only complicate the search. Autumn Gale would obey, and do her duty to the Princess, but Perseus would not want to be in Rhumbline’s horseshoes.

Perseus could tell from a distance that Rhumbline was not in Ponyville. Rhumbline owned a tramp airship that traded goods throughout the continent. The absence of his airship meant he was likely out on another voyage.

This meant another long flight, something that was becoming increasingly difficult for Perseus. However, Rhumbline was firmly rooted to life in Ponyville by a mare that Perseus still considered a friend. A friend that could direct Perseus’ search.

Perseus rocked his wing to signal to his companion, and began a gentle spiraling decent to the edge of town. Perseus landed heavily, his left wing protesting against the strain of the landing, Guardspony Gale landed silently. She might not be fast, but she flew with agility and grace far beyond the average pegasus. The gray mare shook out her white and blue mane, and glared at Perseus.

"I see no reason why we are landing on the outskirts of town, Sir. We know our destination, this will be over with quicker if we just landed there."

"It's common courtesy, Winter, since we are strangers in this town, plus, I want to see how the repairs are going." Perseus explained, switching to a casual tone. They were here as civilians, not guards, and one needed to keep up appearances. "Rhumbline is likely far from here, so a little extra time spent on pleasantries will not hurt."

Winter Gale snorted, but she did not roll her eyes. She was much too disciplined for that, but it was clear she did not approve. Of course not, Perseus thought, it’s neither efficient or expedient.

Perseus took a moment to stretch out his left wing. His age was catching up to him and he needed to take the time to deal with cramps, or else they would lead to injuries. He looked over at Winter, who was watching with barely suppressed impatience. "Courtesy is part of the core of whom we are as Guardsponies. This is true both in and out of uniform. It helps us endear the trust of the princess' subjects, which makes our duty easier to fulfill."

Perseus could lecture for hours on courtesy, as he could for many subjects, but neither he nor Guardspony Gale was in any mood for it. They were here on a mission, and Perseus was curious about the progress of the repairs to the town and the resident’s demeanor.

Perseus started out at a slow trot, with Winter following at a respectful distance to his side. The progress of the repairs was amazing. Where there had once been torn down roofs and smashed walls, new thatch and fresh paint had been laid.

Perseus shook his head, he really did not understand what made this town tick. This place was the most disaster prone area under the Princess' domain. The combination of the dangerous animals that reside in the nearby Everfree forest, and the destructive tendencies of some of Ponyville’s residents resulted in frequent disasters. The town was poor, yet there was no mass migration from the town. Ponyville was thriving, with new residents coming from all over Equestria.

Maybe I should retire here, Perseus thought, life certainly would be interesting.

The residents who saw them turned to give their greetings to the strange ponies in town. The ponies to Perseus' right gave a warm smile, and words of welcome. The ones to Perseus’ left stared, then suddenly looked away in embarrassment, mumbling their words of welcome. It has been twenty five years since this reaction had bothered Perseus, but it had a certain irony coming from the residents of Ponyville.

"I'm surprised the residents are still putting up with that Dragon." Winter said quietly, pitched so only Perseus could hear.

"Spike is a part of their community," Perseus replied, "Up until last week, he was a very nice baby dragon. I think many of the residents remember Spike for who he was before the incident, and are willing to forgive." Many, but not all, if the reports he had heard were to be believed.

"The Princess knew the danger he posed, why didn't she have him watched more closely?"

Perseus paused for a moment. He knew well why the Princess acted the way she did. However, he could not share much of it. Being commander of the guard made him an advisor to the Princesses on matters of security, conversations that frequently had to be held in the closest confidence. Yet, he felt the need to lecture Winter on this. Her greatest shortcoming as a guard was her coldness; her lack of compassion in personal relationships.

Perseus paused on the bridge over the river that ran through the center of town. On the other side remained a giant footprint from the rampage of the previous week. "Winter, the princess focuses more on who somepony is, vice what they are." Perseus said, settling into the soft, fatherly voice he perfected from decades of counseling young guards. "Spike is a baby dragon with the potential to become a greedy, dangerous beast consumed by his hoarding instinct. However Winter, this is what he is, not who. Her Majesty sees Spike is the faithful companion of her student, whom she helped Twilight Sparkle raise from the time he was hatched. Spike has proven to be loyal and caring, and the Princess trusts he will remain so." He may just need a little help, Perseus thought.

Winter frowned, an expression so common to her now that it seemed natural. The betrayal she felt when her sister left the Guard has darkened her whole outlook on things. Winter had joined the guard a few years ago to follow in her sisters footsteps into service to the Princess. Winter had smiled a lot then, and was very sociable with the other guards.

Her sister’s departure less than a year later to raise a family with an earth pony their father disapproved of had changed all that. Above all things, Winter valued loyalty, and her sisters perceived betrayal not only to her family, but to the Princess as well was more than she could handle. She turned all her efforts to her duties, and withdrew from many of the social relationships she had built in the Guard.

Perseus had spent many hours trying to repair that damage. However, Winter had always been headstrong, and his lectures on the subject, while dutifully listened to, had no real effect.

Perseus resumed his trot. The town's market place was not far, and he had seen enough of the town to be able to report to the Princess.

‘I should check up on Twilight before I leave town’, Perseus thought. ‘She would be working herself ragged helping the town recover from the disaster. Celestia’s letter won’t make her feel any better either.’

Like many of the older members of the royal household, Perseus had a special place in his heart for Twilight. Watching that precocious little filly following the Princess around, soaking up everything she was taught, brought a warm feeling to everypony's heart. The joy the Princess took in teaching Twilight Sparkle was a welcome change to the melancholy loneliness that seemed to fill Celestia’s days before.

Perseus felt a closer tie to Celestia's prized student. Soon after Twilight had arrived, the Princess had given him the task of watching over the filly, and reporting back to Twilight's parents on their child's progress. At the time, it seemed to Perseus like this was a waste of his expertise, but he carried out the Princess’ request with the same fervor as his other duties, exchanging sleep for the extra time he needed.

The experience changed Perseus. The demands on his time forced him to delegate many of his duties to subordinates. This forced him to find subordinates with leadership potential and nurture their development, which in turn strengthened the guard and made Perseus’ job much easier.

Perseus learned much from watching Celestia’s lessons. He had never understood the mechanics of unicorn magic, but little of what the Princess taught was about magic. Her lessons were about confidence, curiosity, and determination. She would demonstrate a particular skill and set a task, and let Twilight figure out for herself how to complete the task, offering guidance only when it was needed. In these lessons, Perseus was not just an observer, but somepony Twilight could turn too for support, somepony who had no expectations of her.

"Of course Princess," Perseus chuckled to himself. "You were just trying to get me ready for retirement."

"Sir?" Winter asked, glancing over at Perseus with a quizzical look.

Perseus smiled at his subordinate. "Just an old pony remembering old times, Winter. You'll experience it yourself in thirty or so years."

The pair had arrived at their destination, a small shop off of Ponyville's main market square. Above it's door was mounted a Zebran festival mask. The sign next to the door read "Rhumbline's Rarities." All around the front wall of the shop were little paintings of far-off lands and exotic creatures. The paintings were simple with a limited range of color, but they were done with precise, smooth brush strokes, showing the care that went into their creation.

Perseus pushed open the front door to the shop, his entrance was announced by the chime of a small bell. The interior of the shop was dim, lit by only the light coming in from the front window. There were a few rows of shelves along one wall, bare except for a few odd items, a few jars of unidentifiable herbs, a few small wood carvings of animals Perseus has never seen, and a giant Zebran totem in the corner.

"Good afternoon!" A cheery voice greeted Perseus' arrival. From behind the counter at the back of the store, the head of a young brown filly popped up, a floppy black beret sitting upon her long yellow bangs. Her wide smile drooped only for a second when she caught a full glimpse of Perseus, but soon resumed its full vigor. "Welcome to Rhumbline's Rarities, is there something..." The filly's voice trailed off as Perseus' traveling companion entered the store.

The little brown filly stood there in stunned silence, looking at disbelief at the gray pegasus that entered the store. Winter Gale gave the filly an icy stare, showing no affection for the young earth pony. Perseus frowned, he was not happy with how this conversation was starting out.

"Umm... hello auntie Winter," the filly said timidly, smile gone, and her eyes averted from Winters piercing glare.

"Palette." Winter demanded gruffly. "Is my sister here?"

"She's upstairs," Palette replied softly. Her ears were folded back, and she was intently examining her hoof.

"We'll head up there in a minute little one," Perseus interjected in his most fatherly voice. There was no need to intimidate the poor little filly. "First, let me get a good look at you Palette, its been a while since I've last seen you."

Perseus approached the counter to get a good look at the filly, who looked questioningly at him with her blue Gale eyes. "Do I know you?" Palette asked uncertainly.

"Not nearly well enough, Palette. You were just a yearling when I saw you last," Perseus replied while smiling. Palette had grown quite a lot since he had last seen her. "Your mother and I were once co-workers... and friends."

"You were in the Guard?" Palette inquired with her ears perked up.

"I still am." Perseus replied with a smile. The young filly was beginning to relax a little, but still stole an occasional glance at Winter. Perseus noted that Palette had gained her cutie mark, a painter’s palette. She was still quite young, so her gaining her cutie mark was notable. "Congratulations on getting your cutie mark, Palette, you must be the only pony your age who has one. I’m not surprised, I remember how much you liked coloring when you were a yearling."

"Thanks! I am the only pony in my kindergarden class with a cutie mark." Palette beamed, blushing. Perseus' ears perked at the sound of hooves clopping down the stairs in the back and he glanced quickly back at Guardspony Gale to see if the warm conversation had changed her demeanor any.

No such luck. Winter still looked like she was facing down a mortal enemy.

"Guard captain," A burgundy Pegasus mare greeted the Perseus as she reached the bottom of the steps, "and Winter. This is a pleasant surprise."

"Sister," Winter replied, glaring at her older sister. “My visit wasn’t voluntary.”

"Autumn, it’s a pleasure to see you again!" Perseus added, directing the conversation in a more cheerful direction. He looked over his former subordinate. She had let her hair grow out. Her orange and yellow tresses bound near the end much in the same fashion as when she was a Guardspony. She carried the weight of her impending motherhood with the same athletic grace that made her such a formidable guard.

The sight of her made Perseus smile widely. He had known Autumn Gale was expecting another foal; it had been the talk of the barracks when one of the unicorn guards had found out. But still, seeing her made him all the more happy. It was proof that there was life after the guard. Autumn had made the adjustment so easily.

"I’m happy to see you again Perseus," Autumn smiled, looking over her guests with her piercing blue Gale eyes. “And you too, sister. You may be here against your will, but you are always welcome in my home.”

"Thanks," Winter replied, her stony gaze warming slightly. "You are looking... large."

"It comes with the territory when you are a becoming a mother," Autumn answered. “Is father well?”

“Well enough, though he still wants nothing to do with you.” Winter replied curtly, breaking her gaze for a moment. “Why did you have to anger him so by having a foal with that earth...”

“Winter, not in front of my daughter.” Autumn interrupted sharply, her eyes narrowing. The change in tone surprised Palette, who had been listening in rapt attention, and she cowered behind the counter. Autumn glanced quickly at her daughter, and turned her attention back to Perseus. "You’re not here for idle chat, Perseus. Let’s take this upstairs.”

"It is true we are here on business, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be civil." Perseus replied, giving Winter a sharp glance. “It would probably best if we continue this somewhere more private.”

Autumn nodded, and moved aside to allow her guests access to the stairs. "Palette, please watch the store for a little longer. We have some business we need to attend to."

"Aww, mom..." The filly whined from behind the counter..

"It will just be a little while, dear." Autumn replied as she turned to follow Perseus and Winter up the stairs. “And no snooping.”

Perseus ducked down when he reached the top of the stairs, and looked around the sparsely furnished, one-room apartment. The few furniture items were old, and were of differing colors and styles. There was no bed or chairs in the room, only a pair of mats rolled up in the corner. In the center of the room were a large, thick pile rug, whose bizarre patterns and bright colors belied it's exotic origins. In the corner of the room, resting on an old dress form, was Autumn’s guard armor, brightly polished and ready for inspection.

Perseus glanced back at Winter, who's frown deepened when she saw the apartment. Perseus imagined that Chinook, Autumn and Winter's father, a powerful pegasus who once ran the Equestrian weather control bureau would have had a very similar reaction. Perseus' attempts to encourage his former classmate to mend the fences with his daughter had always been met with hostility.

"Please make yourselves comfortable." Autumn said, motioning to the exotic carpet as she crested the stairs. "Can I get you anything?"

"Thanks, but no," Perseus said, settling himself down on the rug. "Please, don't bother yourself too much on our account."

Autumn nodded and settled herself gently onto the other side of the rug.

"How do you put up with this Sister?" Winter growled. “It’s bad enough you lost you commission on account of that earth pony, and now he has you living in squalor?”

“It wasn’t his fault, Winter. I understood the risks when I started the relationship.” Autumn sighed. “It does you no good to blame my husband or my daughter for something that was my decision.”

“I will decide what is good for me.” Winter snapped

“Enough!” Perseus snarled, kneading his brow with his hoof. Whatever Princess Celestia wanted Winter to learn, it’s not worth alienating a friend. ”Let’s talk about the task at hand.”

“Alright.” Autumn sighed, looking down at the carpet. “You are looking for Rhumbline, aren’t you”

Perseus nodded. "The Princess has a request for him."

Autumn frowned, looking between her two guests. "I assume this request is dangerous and will take him far from home," Perseus nodded again and Autumn's frown deepened. She began tracing the geometric patterns on the carpet with a forehoof, and sat silent for several moments.

"You are going to tell us Sister, aren't you?" Winter growled, her blue eyes boring into her sister. "You wouldn't think of denying the Princess..." Perseus silenced Winter with a glare.

An uncomfortable silence descended over the room, the only sound was the light clopping of hooves on the stairs.

"Palette, downstairs please," Autumn said, breaking the silence and turning her head to face the stairs.

"But..." the sweet voice pleaded.

"No arguments young lady," Autumn softly, but sternly. "This conversation is not for young ears. I'll explain it to you later." Perseus heard a faint sigh coming from the stairs with the sound of small hooves retreating down the stairs. Autumn turned back to Winter, returning her sisters piercing stare. "I am tempted, sister. My husband left Princess Celestia's service because it kept him away from his family. But I know my husband, he would never refuse a request from the Princess."

"Autumn, The Princess wouldn't ask unless she really needed Rhumbline's services." Perseus replied calmly trying to diffuse the situation.

"I know that Perseus," Autumn growled, turning her hard gaze upon the white stallion. "But why should he pay because the captains of the royal airships are all political appointees?"

“Autumn, your husband was a political appointee too.” Perseus reasoned. A half truth, because while he was politically appointed, it was not because of his political connections. His status as the son of Starline, pioneering navigator and inventor of the magical navigational compass, as well as his own navigational exploits made his elevation to Captain a palatable choice. “However, it is what your husband possesses, vice what the others lack that is important. Rhumbline owns an airship that does not fly the royal colors.”

Autumn dropped her gaze, and she looked at the intricate geometric patterns on the rug for a few moments. "How dangerous is the task?"

"It’s a voyage he has made before, though not as a Captain." Perseus replied. “I will not lie to you and say the task is without risk, but his passengers will be safest on his airship with him at the helm.”

Autumn sighed, and looked up, her hard glare replaced by a concerned look. "I'll help you Perseus, because I trust both you and the Princess. But will you at least tell me about the task?"

"Some things need to remain secret, even from you, Autumn. But I will tell you what I can." Perseus said, shifting into a more comfortable position for what would be a delicate discussion.

My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic is © Hasbro, Studio B and Lauren Faust

Chapter 6: The Griffin's Claw

Chapter 6: The Griffin's Claw

The Ties that Bind

By Birdco
Pre-read by : Blayaden, AlexKadin, Yoshimon1

“At the mouth of the Dragon’s pass we were set upon by griffins. They threatened us with our lives, and took all they could carry, leaving us with a few days of food and precious few items of warm clothes. Behind us was thousands of furlongs of wasteland, and ahead of us was the unknown. We took the only logical choice and pressed forward.”

-The Travels of Mareco Polo, Chapter 12.

Chapter 6: The Griffin’s Claw

“Kamelia Leyline, where in Celestia’s name do you think you are going?!” The pale blue unicorn mare yelled at Kayleigh as she walked towards the front of her family’s home. Kayleigh wasn’t about to give her mother the satisfaction of acknowledgment. She had made her decision, and there was nothing her mother could do to stop her.

“Look at me when I am talking to you!” Circée snarled at her daughter as rushed down the hall. “I did not give you permission to leave!”

Kayleigh ignored her mother. The doorway was only a few more strides, a few more strides and she could be out of this house. Her mother had been intolerable after Kayleigh failed her entrance exam to Canterlot University, but soon it wouldn’t be her concern any more. I am an adult now, so I can make my own decisions.

“Kamelia, Stop!” the older unicorn mare screamed as her horn ignited, lighting the door to their home with a blue radiance.

“Oh, Bollocks” Kayleigh cursed as she stopped. Her mother had enchanted the door. This was not one of the simple enchantments that she could do without batting an eye, her mother had put real effort into this one. Circée was the enchantment teacher at Celestia’s school for unicorns, and Kayleigh had no hope of breaking this enchantment, she had a hard enough time with simple enchantments.

I should just rip the door out of the wall and be done with it, Kayleigh thought. The yellow mare had little skill for magic beyond telekinesis, but she could put real power into what she could do. She could rip a hole in the wall without breaking a sweat.

But what would Rhumbline and her father think about that? Rhumbline had convinced her father, Leyline, that her problems was not in a lack of effort, but because ‘her engine is too big for her rudder’. He suggested that work, instead of study, might help her master her difficulties, and offered to take her on as his engineer, despite her lack of qualifications.

Kayleigh sighed, and decided that brute force was not the best solution to this problem. She faced her mother. “I am going to be the engineer on the Dodo, mother. There is nothing you can do to stop me.” She said as calmly as possible, meeting her mother’s hash gaze.

“Like the gates of Tartarus I can’t stop you.” Her mother snarled back. “I am not letting you fall for the wiles of that pirate. Make you his engineer... Ha!”

“He is family, mother,” the yellow mare replied sharply. “You’ve never been this harsh with him around before.”

“Because he wasn’t threatening to take my daughter away,” Circée spat, “I will not let you end up like that ruffian’s poor wife and daughter. He gets that poor mare pregnant, marries her, then leaves her and the foal to their own devices as he gallivants around the world. I guess that comes naturally to a pony that doesn’t even know who his father is.”

“That isn’t fair, mother,” Kayleigh growled back. “Rhumbline left the Airship service so he could spend more time with his family. He is even taking them with him on his voyages.”

“And what kind of life is that?!” The pale blue mare retorted, shoving her face closer to her daughters. “You heard about the Gull, lost over the Everfree Forest with all hands. and what about the Glimmers’ oldest son, falling off one of those infernal contraptions? Luckily he was saved before he hit the ground, but he has never been the same since. Rhumbline’s daughter is a earth pony, for Celestia’s sake. The sky is no place for that cute little foal.”

“Rhumbline is one the best airship captains there is,” Kayleigh replied, the strength in her voice weakening. Moonlight Glimmer was one of her friends when she was younger. He has been so jumpy ever since he came back from that ordeal.

“You go on believing that, Kamelia,” Circée growled, “and someday you will find yourself falling off an airship, or stranded in some far off land with no way to get home.”

Kayleigh jolted awake, inhaling deeply the chill mountain air. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She had only wanted to rest a bit after she finished the repair work on the Starboard propellor, but she obviously had fallen asleep. She looked up, past the snow capped mountains that surrounded the Dodo, to the sky, whose stars were starting to be hidden by the brightening in the east.

“Oh horseapples, how long have I been asleep?” Kayleigh cursed out loud.

“A couple of hours”, replied an unexpected voice. The yellow unicorn jumped to her hooves in surprise, shedding the blanket that had lain across her back. She turned to look at the baby dragon that had been standing behind her.

“Why didn’t you wake me up? I was supposed to relieve Joe on the watch hours ago.” Kayleigh asked Spike, breathing deeply to still her racing heart.

“Rhumbline told me to let you sleep.” The little purple and green dragon replied, pointing to the blue shape sitting on the port bridge wing. He looked like he was resting, but Kayleigh knew better. Whenever she was on the helm, he would be up there, on the bridge, looking like he was sleeping... but the second she was more than a couple of degrees off course, he would open his eyes and help her regain track.

“How long has he been up here?” Kayleigh asked with concern. “He was ‘sposed to be getting some sleep...”

“All night,” Spike replied, echoing the unicorns concern. “He is expecting trouble. He saw a pair of griffins as he brought the Dodo in to anchorage.”

Kayleigh looked hard at the captain, barely visible in the dim light of early morning. She saw the minotaur forged blade he owned strapped to his side. The mere fact that he was wearing it terrified Kayleigh, she had never seen him wear it before.

“If he is expecting an attack, why isn’t everyone up!?” Kayleigh exclaimed. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Shhh... not so loud,” Spiked hissed, putting his hand over the yellow unicorns snout. “You need to keep it down, Rhumbline is up there listening for the griffins. He sent everypony to bed, because he said he was best able to hear the griffins at night if they decided to come. He had an argument with Twilight and Winter over it too. He said that the griffins he saw made no pretense of hiding themselves. If they had any intent of attacking during the night, they would have tried to take us by surprise. He argued that they are trying to get us to stay up all night, so when they come in the morning, we would all be too tired to resist.”

“I don’t believe anypony would sleep, knowing that.” Kayleigh whispered. The only reason she slept was because she had no idea of the danger.

“Winter isn’t, but she is relaxing down in her rack.” Spike replied, “Twilight tried to stay up too. I convinced her to lay down by promising to stay up and wake her if anything happens. She is still so weak that she fell asleep within minutes.”

“And Joe?” Kayleigh asked.

“He came up for a few hours around midnight, then went back down to his rack.” Spike answered as he shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t say a word to Rhumbline the entire time. He wouldn’t talk to me either. I think something is wrong with him, he just paced the deck.”

Kayleigh agreed with the little dragon. She looked at the remnants of the starboard prop that laid on the deck. It had thrown a blade during the worst part of the passage through the storm; the remnants of the prop blade still protruded through the hull into the engine room. Kayleigh cut the drive belt to the starboard nacelle before the unbalanced propeller could cause more severe damage, but the incident had shattered Joe’s confidence.

The only reason Kayleigh knew anything about it was because Joe had come down to the engine after the Dodo cleared the storm, and apologized repeatedly. He had admitted to her that he froze after the propeller failed, requiring Rhumbline to shove him from the helm, and how he spent the next hour huddled in the corner wondering if they would make it out of the storm alive.

Kayleigh asked Rhumbline about it after she had helped him set the anchor, and he helped her get out the spare prop from the cargo hold. All he said was that he had put Joe in a bad situation. That was it, nothing more. Nothing about what Joe actually did, and apparently, nothing about the griffins either.

Kayleigh had spent most of the night fixing the drive belt and installing the new propeller. She had been so focused on the job she missed the drama that was occurring with the rest of the crew.

“Spike, did you lay the blanket over me?” Kayleigh asked quietly, looking at the wool blanket that lay in a pile on the deck.

The little dragon nodded. “I figured I could wake you pretty quickly if the Griffins actually came, so why not make you as comfortable as possible. Does your leg still hurt?”

“It only aches a little.” Kayleigh replied as she surveyed the deck. All of her tools, save her Blacksmith’s hammer were gone. The only evidence that she had been working was the broken propeller on the deck. “Spike, did you clean all this up?”

“Yes.” Spike replied sheepishly, “I was trying to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of things.”

“Well, that was really nice,” Kayleigh replied. She gave the dragon a pat on the head, and turned around to face the railing. She grabbed her hammer with telekinesis, and placed it in her work belt. If there were griffins about, she wanted to keep the hammer handy. It had proved very useful in dissuading unwanted advances from stallions, so maybe it would work against a griffin.

But what if it didn’t? What if she actually had to use the hammer? Kayleigh imagined the effect the stone-weight hammer would have on a griffin.

No no no no no... I don’t want to think about it, Kayleigh chided herself as she tried to put her mind on other things. She tried to think about fuel efficiency calculations, the parts of a Mark II impulse engine, and even basic enchantment theory, but her mind kept wandering back to the mental image of her hammer impacting hide.

“Uhh... Kayleigh, are you all right?” Spike asked, as he walked around to the yellow pony’s front.

“I’m OK Spike, I’m just a little worried about the griffins,“ Kayleigh replied quickly. “Umm, Spike, do you mind if we talk a little? To, you know, keep our mind off things?”

“Well sure,” Spike answered, “what do you want to talk about?”

Kayleigh sat silent for a moment. She had been chatting with the dragon off and on for the whole voyage, so she already knew a lot about him. Idle chitchat wasn’t going to keep her mind off the horrid image that was swirling around in her head.

“Spike,” Kayleigh started, hesitantly. “Why do you hang around with Twilight? I mean, you are a dragon, and she’s a pony, and to be honest, she treats you kind of like a servant.”

“That’s an awfully personal question.” Spike replied slowly. He paused for a few moments thinking. “I tell you what, if you tell me why you hang around with Rhumbline, I tell you why I hang around with Twilight.”

“Well, that’s easy, Rhumbline is family.” the yellow unicorn said cheerfully as she walked towards the bow of the airship. She didn’t want to spoil Rhumbline’s hearing with their conversation, and since she was going to rely on her eyes to look out, she wanted the clear views of the Foc’s’le. “He needed an engineer, and I was available.”

“Tell me something I don’t know” Spike said dismissively, as he trotted along beside the unicorn. “Let’s start with why he calls you Kamelia, when you introduce yourself as Kayleigh?”

“Well, Kamelia is my real name. Kamelia Leyline,” Kayleigh replied. “I had a friend from school who used to call me Ka-Ley, and well, I liked that name better. I’m not the flower type.” Moonlight Glimmer had always been the one for nicknames. Kayleigh had hoped to be on the same airship as him someday, but with the way he is now, that will probably never happen.
“Rhumbline used to spend his time between voyages at my father’s house.” The yellow unicorn continued while scanning the sky. The approaching light of dawn glistened off the snow covered peaks surrounding the airship. “While they are only cousins, they treated each other like brothers. I guess that makes Rhumbline my uncle. He calls me Kamelia because I let him get away with it. He’s the type that thinks nothing should ever be renamed. Heck, he left the Dodo’s name alone.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that” Spike replied, “Twilight said the Dodo is a big dumb flightless bird from some island in the middle of nowhere. Why would anypony name an airship that?”

“Well, her builder had the bright idea that since airships were the fastest way to travel, they would make good cargo ships.” Kayleigh answered enthusiastically. She had read everything she could about the Dodo’s history, and it really fascinated her. “When she was first built, the Dodo was the biggest airship yet built. But this was over a hundred years ago, and the magic and technology back then was not nearly as advanced as it is today. When the Dodo was finished, she was so heavy that she could only carry a tiny weight of cargo. So, that is why she was named Dodo.”

“Now there have been a lot of ponies who have bought her over the years, making their own little improvements to make her a better airship.” The yellow unicorn continued. “But the Dodo could never compete economically with ships and rail as a liner, and she was always sold after a few years to another person who would try her as a liner on a different route. By about 40 years ago, the construction of the huge liner airships, which used pegasus aerodynamic design to carry more than the old balloon type airships, had made the Dodo completely obsolete. She was basically abandoned in the Canterlot shipyard.”

“Then why did Rhumbline buy her?” Spike asked. “I mean, he seems pretty smart. Why would he get himself involved in an airship like this?”

“I don’t know.” Kayleigh replied. She took a quick glance aft at her captain. He was now standing, and scanned the sky methodically. “It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it. But Rhumbline managed to find a niche carrying special cargoes between places the liner airships can’t go, because they are too big. He isn’t making a lot of money, but he makes just enough to keep the old bird flying.”

“If he isn’t making a lot of money, how is he paying you and Joe?” Spike asked.

“Well, he pays Joe a decent wage, well, decent considering his last job.” Kayleigh replied, “I work for room and board and a little spending money.”

“Huh?” The baby dragon arched an eyebrow, and looked at the yellow unicorn in disbelief. “Why would you do that?”

“Well, I don’t have an engineer’s license,” Kayleigh said sheepishly, breaking her gaze on the sky to look at the little dragon. “But I really want to be an airship engineer. Rhumbline is the only pony who would even consider hiring me on. To me, the experience of being an engineer is more important than money, and to be honest, Rhumbline is my only option for that.”

“Why don’t you just go to school to get your license?” Spike asked . “You seem to have a real talent at engineering.”

“I’m not that good of a student,” The unicorn replied, looking at her hooves, “I’m the type that learns by getting her hooves dirty. And enchantment is a big part of the curriculum, since modern airships are dependant on it. Enchantment isn’t exactly my strong point.”

Kayleigh looked back towards the sky. She could see the red light of sunrise illuminating the tops of the mountains surrounding the valley. To the north, the snow free peak of the Griffin’s Claw towered above the surrounding peaks. Its sides were impossibly steep, and in the red glow of the morning, it looked like it’s name, a claw of a hunting griffon.

“We should be heading back towards the pilothouse, “Kayleigh said as she turned away from the rail. “We will be leaving soon, and I need to start up the main engine.”

“But I haven’t answered your question yet.” Spike said, falling into step behind Kayleigh.

“Well, we’ll just have to walk slowly then” The unicorn replied, as she stopped after a few steps, and looked down at the little dragon. “Well, why does a dragon decide to put up with a bookworm pony like Twilight? You are the first dragon I have ever met, but from what I’ve heard, dragons aren’t the type to be following a pony around.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Spike replied quietly. “I have only ever met one other dragon, and well, he wasn’t particularly happy to see me. Twilight was the first pony I met after I was hatched, and she has taken care of me ever since.”

“So you think of Twilight as your mother?” Kayleigh asked.

“No, not exactly,” Spike replied. “I’ve been with her all my life, but she was a little filly when I hatched. We grew up together, so that makes us more like brother and sister. But that really doesn’t explain it either. I guess I really owe Twilight a lot, since she actually hatched me.”

“What do you mean?” The unicorn inquired as she halted her slow cadence again.

“Well, I was being used by Princess Celestia’s school in their entrance exam.” Spike answered. “No pony has ever managed to hatch a dragon egg. And since they are hard as gems, and basically indestructible, the teachers figured that it would be a good test for the applicants. I don’t know how long I was there before Twilight managed to hatch me.”

“Wait a second... They give impossible tasks to the applicants as an entrance exam!?” Kayleigh exclaimed. “So you mean when they gave me a bar of lead and told me to change it into gold, they didn’t expect me to actually do it?”

“Umm... I guess,” Spike said, looking at his feet. “You would have to ask Twilight that, she was the one who had that discussion with the Princess. I was just eavesdropping and didn't hear all of it.”

“Kayleigh. Spike. Do you two need to be so loud?” Rhumbline called from the upper level of the aft deckhouse. His voice did not express the clear feeling of command it normally did. Kayleigh never considered Rhumbline to be that old, but he looked it now. His normally stiff posture was bent ever so slightly, and his hair, matted from his days on the bridge, looked grayer that before.

Kayleigh trotted back towards the deckhouse, and Spike followed suit. “Captain, the Sun is up, I’ll fire up the engine so we can get out of here.”

“No, Kayleigh, we are going to stay here.” Rhumbline said, as he gazed towards west towards the mouth of the valley. “I will deal with the Griffins here. I don't want to deal with them when I am trying to navigate Dragon’s Pass.”

“What do you mean by deal with them?” Kayleigh asked. The image of her hammer impacting hide flashed back into her mind.

“I’m going to buy them off,” Rhumbline answered. He prodded the sack at his feet, and Kayleigh saw the glint of gems shine through the opening in the top. “Spike, wake everypony up. You, Winter Gale and Joe are to hold the Pilothouse. Lock the door, and do not unlock it, no matter what happens. Miss Sparkle is to come out here with me and Kayleigh.”

“Yes sir!” Spike replied as he headed towards the door into the deckhouse.

“Spike, tell Winter her duty is to protect you. Remind her that we are out here for you.” Rhumbline ordered, his voice forceful and clear. Spike met his eyes, nodded, and headed inside.

Rhumbline grabbed the sack of gems in his teeth, and walked down the stairs to the main deck. The heavy blade the blue stallion had strapped to his side tapped each step as he descended. Kayleigh stared at that blade. Her hammer was a tool, though it would serve as an effective weapon, it was made to create. That minotaur forged blade, its grey blade slightly discolored with rust, had only one purpose, to destroy. The whole concept was repulsive; why would any creature want to harm another?

“Kamelia,” Rhumbline said softly after he set the sack on the deck a few strides forward of the aft deckhouse door, “Most ponies in Equestria forget that while we have found a way to live in peace with each other, and our neighbors, other places of the world are not nearly as civilized. This is one of those places. Griffins respect strength, and I am hoping to convince this tribe that we are not worth messing with.”

“How do you know the griffins are going to mess with us?” Kayleigh asked.

“A pair of griffins spent the night watching us from the mouth of the valley.” The stallion replied, pointing his snout towards the west. “They flew off at dawn. Why watch us all night unless they wanted to keep tabs on us?”

“Maybe they are just curious.” The yellow unicorn replied. “Airships don’t come this way, right? Maybe they just want a closer look.”

“They didn’t want a closer look twenty years ago.” Rhumbline muttered.

Both Kayleigh and Rhumbline turned when they heard the door open. Twilight Sparkle looked a lot better that she did last night. Her hair was still matted, but she walked with more energy. The lavender mare shot Rhumbline a hard look, which the stallion replied to with a small smile.

“Kayleigh, lock the door” Rhumbline ordered, turning back to watch the valley mouth. Kayleigh used her telekinesis to position the locking bar on the inside of the door. Now the only way that door could be opened was by an unicorn, or from the inside. “Miss Sparkle, I am expecting the griffins to visit us shortly. I am trying to convince them to leave us alone through a bribe, and a show of force. Twenty years ago, my mother scared off this band when they tried to bother us in the Dragon Pass. I’m hoping they remember what unicorns are capable of.”

“If you are trying for a show of force, why are you leaving a royal guard in the pilothouse” Twilight asked.

“She is guarding Spike.” Rhumbline replied. “Baby dragons are rare, and in the less civilized areas of the world, there are creatures who would go to great lengths to obtain one. The King of Minos has a dragon that the minotaurs captured as a baby. It has been trained to obey the king’s every command, and he uses it as a symbol of his kingdom’s power.”

“That’s horrible,” Kayleigh whispered.

“The world is not a nice place,” Rhumbline replied. Suddenly, the stallions ears swiveled forward, and his eyes focused on a point out in the sky. Kayleigh looked, and saw a group of flying creatures flying into the mouth of the canyon. It was too far for her to tell what they were, but they were large.

“Griffins,” Twilight muttered. Her horn was glowing, and her eyes were surrounded with the faint glimmer of magic. The lavender unicorn released the spell, and turned towards Rhumbline. “There are ten of them, and they are wearing some kind of armor.”

The stallion nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the griffins. They were flying fast, and were rapidly closing the distance to the Dodo.

“Horseapples, they have archers,” Rhumbline cursed, as he reached back and undid the strap that secured his blade in its sheath. “Twilight, Kamelia, watch the archers. If things don’t go right, deal with them first.”

The griffins completed their approach to the airship and split up. The three archers, all females, took up positions in tall trees in the woods surrounding the Dodo. The largest griffins of the group landed on the deck in front of Kayleigh, and the remainder circled above. The largest, clearly the leader of the griffins wore leather plates on his forelegs and shoulders, and his beak was painted in a blood red design, a color mirrored in the feathers around his eyes. His cold eyes surveyed the ponies on deck.

Kayleigh’s heart was racing. She had met some griffons, but these were much different. Their beaks and talons bore evidence of sharpening. She took a step backwards, towards the door that would take her into the deckhouse, and to her safe engineroom. These griffins were predators, and she wanted desperately to be somewhere else.

“Kamelia, hold your ground.” Rhumbline hissed as he took a few steps forward. He kicked the sack of gems, causing it to tip over and spill a few on the deck. “Donaco,” Rhumbline said in his most forceful voice to the largest griffin.

“Donaco?” The griffin laughed, looking in disdain at the sack. He then spoke to another griffin, this one decorated in purple, and wearing an eyepatch, in a language Kayleigh did not understand.

“You have baby dragon,” The second griffin said in heavily accented equestrian. “give dragon and you go.”

“Neniu drako,” Rhumbline replied, taking another step forward. He pointed a forehoof at Twilight. “Sorcxisto. Donaco au lukto!”

The laughter that erupted from the lead griffon caused Kayleigh to freeze in fright. The red beaked griffon turned to his subordinate, and spoke again in the language she did not understand.

“We no fear scrawny pony and one horns.” The one eyed griffon translated. “Give dragon, or we take.”

Rhumbline strode forward until he was looking the lead griffin in his eyes. “Listen you feather brained bully. Take the gems and leave. We are not giving up the dragon. Donako au lukto!” Rhumbline yelled at the griffin.

The griffins reaction was sudden and swift. He swung his right claw upward, to strike at the stallion’s neck. Rhumbline’s reaction caught the griffon by surprise, instead of retreating from the strike, the blue earth pony lunged forward, slamming his forehead into the chest of the taller griffon as the griffon buried his claws into the pony’s shoulder. A hollow thud sounded on the impact, and the two combatants staggered apart, the griffon clutching his chest, and Rhumbline staggering backwards, his eyes unfocused.

“Rhumbline!” Kayleigh shrieked as he slumped to the ground. She charged forward, and lashed out with her telekinesis at the third griffon, who was advancing to attack the blue stallion. The blow slammed the griffon into the cargo hatch, and he slumped to the deck. Kayleigh turned to face the one eyed griffon when she was startled by a bright flash.

Between them, only empty deck existed where Rhumbline had been laying. This change of circumstance only caused the griffin to pause for a moment before he lunged at the yellow unicorn. Kayleigh yanked her hammer out of its holster, and used it to parry the griffons lunge. She shoved the hammer towards the one eyed griffin’s face, forcing him to retreat.

They were at a standoff. The one eyed griffin was held at bay by the stone-weight hammer, and Kayleigh was unable to do anything else with her magic while she was supporting the hammer. In her peripheral vision, the yellow unicorn saw a tree shine with a magical glow, and lash out at two of the griffin archers, grabbing hold of them.

Deal with the archers first.

Kayleigh shifted her attention just as she heard the twang of an arrow being loosed. She dropped her hammer, and lashed out with her telekinesis in a wide ark, hoping to deflect the deadly projectile. The arrow thudded into the deck next to her hoof.

The one eyed griffon took advantage of Kayleigh’s distraction, and lunged towards her, claws spread wide. The unicorn threw up her forehoof, and her eyes went wide as she saw the griffins razor sharp claws bury themselves into her fetlock.

Kayleigh was desperate. She was not a fighter, and now she was locked in a mortal struggle with a predator. Her eyes darted for options for escape as the griffin positioned himself to strike the mortal blow. Kayleigh took the first option she saw, and pulled hard on the broken propeller that still laid on the deck, sending it hurtling at fetlock level at the two combatants.

The impact turned Kayleigh’s world upside down. She felt no pain, the adrenaline coursing through her veins deadened all sensation, but something felt terribly wrong. She was bracing herself for a hard impact with the deck when she was surrounded with magic.

The sensation of being drawn through the fabric of space was like being spread to the four corners of the earth at the same time she was being crushed to minute point. As soon as the assault on her senses began, the world snapped back into focus. Kayleigh was laying on the deck, next to Rhumbline under a dome of energy. The blue stallion had propped himself up on his forehooves, and was struggling to stand. Twilight’s horn was glowing fiercely, and sweat was beading on her brow. Outside the dome of energy, two griffons were assaulting the dome, and an arrow bounced off the other side. Above them, on the upper deck of the deckhouse, a griffin was assaulting the door to the pilothouse with a large axe.

The unnatural feeling in her hind leg drew Kayleigh’s attention, and she started to look towards it when Twilight called to her. “Kayleigh, I need you to focus. I need you to deal with the last archer. I can’t hold a come alive spell and a barrier for long.”

Kayleigh shifted her gaze to the tree that held the last archer, the nagging feeling of wrongness ever more urgently demanding that she focus on her leg. She was unsure how well she could focus her telekinesis on the griffin at the distance, so she decided to instead to focus on the tree.

Kayleigh’s horn flared as she focused all the strength she could muster into one task, ripping the tree the griffon was using as a perch from the ground. She felt the trees roots fiercely resist her efforts, but it only took a few moments of unrelenting pressure to turn a once magnificent tree into a giant club.

The griffon, who left her perch at the first sign of movement, was not saved by her quick action. Kayleigh thrust her new weapon at the archer. The thrust was clumsy and slow, but the griffin wing was caught by one of the trees branches, and the archer tumbled from the sky.

The extreme exertion of the spell made Kayleigh realize how much pain she was in. She pushed it out of her mind the best she could, and focused on the griffons assaulting the pilot house door. She shifted the tree, and thrust it hard, aiming to clear the upper deck.

Its impact caused the Dodo to swing wildly at anchor. The shifting deck caused Rhumbline to fall into Kayleigh, inciting a wave of pain that caused her to scream involuntarily, and break the spell. Kayleigh buried her head in her hooves, biting her lip to try to make the pain go away.

“Stop” Rhumbline said, struggling to his feet. Rivulets of red flowed down his shoulder and dripped on the deck. He drew the minotaur sword from the sheath, and drove it hard into the deck infront of him. He released the blade, which was driven a full hoof into the deck, and glared angrily at the griffins on the deck. “Stop. Halti!”

The earth pony stumbled a few steps forward, his eyes focused on the red beaked griffon, who had regained his stance and watched the pony warily. As Rhumbline walked forward, he was joined by Winter, who landed silently at his side. She gripped Joe’s canvas knife in her teeth, and advanced threateningly towards the largest griffon.

“Winter, stand down.” The stallion ordered harshly. He turned to the one eyed griffon, who stood on three legs, one of his hind legs sporting a nasty gash “Tell your leader to take the gems and go. We will not let the dragon be taken. We will fight to the last pony to prevent that. Leave with the gems while you still can.”

The one eyed griffon translated quickly. The griffin’s leader looked hard at Winter and then Rhumbline, both of whom returned angry stares, and barked a quick order to the griffins. The one eyed griffin limped forward and gathered up the sack of gems. The griffin raiding party departed, three of its members being helped aloft by others.

Twilight rushed to Kayleigh’s side, and immediately started prodding her hind leg with magic. The pressure made the yellow unicorn whimper in pain, and she weakly turned her head to look at the wounded limb.

“Kayleigh, don’t look.” Twilight said, keeping up the magical pressure. “I’ll take care of it, you will be alright.”

Kayleigh couldn’t resist. The pain demanded that she take a look.

My leg shouldn’t bend that way, should it?, Kayleigh thought, her last thought as her awareness faded to black.